Postembryonic Development of a Neotenic Pseudoscorpion, Microbisium pygmaeum (ELLINGSEN, 1907)

Abstract

External morphology of postembryonic stages of Microbisium pygmaeum are described with emphasis on the chaetotaxy. The change of numbers of chelal trichobothria through postembryonic development suggests that M. pygmaeum is a neotenic species lacking the stage with 12 chelal trichobothria, the most important characteristic of adults in most other pseudoscopion species.