Drepanosira Bonet is a small genus of Entomobryidae mostly found in Asiatic high-elevation habitats. Drepanosira gisini Nosek was described from a mountainous region of Tajikistan, but its identity is currently delimited by generic features, especially color pattern. Here, we study the detailed morphology and systematics of the species to test the hypothesis that it belongs to Entomobryinae and is closely related to Willowsia. To test the phylogenetic placement of D. gisini, we assembled for the first time its mitogenome and used 30 more sequences of Entomobryidae species and two Orchesellidae taxa as outgroups. We performed both maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference phylogenetic analyses. Our data support that D. gisini belongs to Entomobryinae and is closely related to Willowsia species bearing scales of “the long basal rib type”. The dorsal chaetotaxy of D. gisini is remarkably complex, initially suggesting a more basal position of the species within Entomobryoidea. Even so, our phylogenetic analyses and other morphological features, like the presence of lanceolate ribbed scales, tergal sens and ms formulae, and tenaculum chaetotaxy, support the species placement among Entomobryinae in a more derived position within the subfamily phylogeny.
Godeiro et al. (Thu,) studied this question.