Disclaimer: All of the information here should not yet be taken as credible and is subject to change. As I am researching this taxon I am adapting and changing this document to reflect the current research and taxonomy. Sentences or phrases marked with question marks are aspects that I am specifically looking to confirm (or refute), but that does not mean that they are necessarily incorrect or that sentences and phrases that are not marked with question marks are the current consensus. The citations currently present are also subject to change, as there may be an eventual shift to paragraphs rather than simply note taking. Basically to summarize every part of this journal post is tentative.
General Info:
Common names: Coneheads
Etymology: First tail¹
Size range: 0.6–1.5mm¹
Habitats (exclusively humid?):Acidic soils(?), Rotting wood, Leaflitter, Moss. Associated with the leaflitter and moss near trees¹
Discovery: Discovered in 1907 in NY¹
Diet: Fungi¹
Vagility: Protura supposedly have low vagility(?) due to sensitivity towards desiccation, saline water, and restricted habitat.¹
Endemism/Indigenism: ~56% species are endemic with 30% of species being historically Gondwanan in distribution¹ (As the article that I have seen this in first is just talking about New Zealand I am unsure whether the 56% rate of endemism is to New Zealand, or worldwide for Protura)
Introduced/invasive species:
Two (currently unknown to me which) in New Zealand (from Europe?)¹
Distribution: New Zealand¹,
Methodologies of Collection:
Morphology:
Absent morphological traits (compared to basic insect morphology): Eyes, antennae, wings,
Abdominal segments: 9-12
Forelegs: Covered in sensory hairs (sensillae?), 5 segments,
Midlegs/Hindlegs: 5 segments
Taxonomy:
General: ~500 species split into 2(?) orders (THIS IS NOT ACCURATE)
Taxonomically Important characters: Spiracles, sperm, hairs,
Embryology:
Sperm:
Post Embryonic Development:
Anamorphogenesis: Anamorphogenesis
Interesting tidbits, future studies, and ideas:
"The mean density of Protura was significantly higher in pine plantations
than native broadleaf forests. Among native forests, Protura were most abundant
under native beech (Nothofagus). these abundance patterns may reflect the
association between Protura and mycorrhizal fungal communities in the soil,
making Protura promising bioindicators of forest health, particular of exotic
conifers in the Southern Hemisphere."¹
References:
Cor J Vink (2011) New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity, Volume Two: Kingdom Animalia—Chaetognatha, Ecdysozoa, Ichnofossils, New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 38:3, 281-282, https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.2011.590213
Articles to read (temp):
European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Johnson, N., Scheu, S., Ramirez, K., et al., Global soil biodiversity atlas, Johnson, N.(editor), Scheu, S.(editor), Ramirez, K.(editor), Lemanceau, P.(editor), Eggleton, P.(editor), Jones, A.(editor), Moreira, F.(editor), Barrios, E.(editor), De Deyn, G.(editor), Briones, M.(editor), Kaneko, N.(editor), Kandeler, E.(editor), Wall, D.(editor), Six, J.(editor), Fierer, N.(editor), Jeffery, S.(editor), Lavelle, P.(editor), Putten, W.(editor), Singh, B.(editor), Miko, L.(editor), Hedlund, K.(editor), Orgiazzi, A.(editor), Chotte, J.(editor), Bardgett, R.(editor), Behan-Pelletier, V.(editor), Fraser, T.(editor), Montanarella, L.(editor), Publications Office, 2016, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2788/2613
Galli L, Shrubovych J, Bu Y, Zinni M (2018) Genera of the Protura of the World: diagnosis, distribution, and key. ZooKeys 772: 1-45. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.772.24410
Shrubovych, J.; Smykla, J.; Bernard, E.C. Protura in Arctic Regions, with Description of Mastodonentomon n. gen. (Acerentomidae, Nipponentominae) and a Key to Known Arctic Taxa. Insects 2020, 11, 173. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11030173
Bluhm SL, Potapov AM, Shrubovych J, Ammerschubert S, Polle A, Scheu S. Protura are unique: first evidence of specialized feeding on ectomycorrhizal fungi in soil invertebrates. BMC Ecol. 2019 Feb 22;19(1):10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12898-019-0227-y
Jason A. Hansen, Ernest C. Bernard, and J. Kevin Moulton "A Defensive Behavior of Acerentulus confinis (Berlese) (Protura: Acerentomidae)," Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 112(1), 43-46, (1 January 2010). https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797-112.1.43
https://web.archive.org/web/20180421193714id_/http://www.entomology.org.il/sites/default/files/pdfs/IJE-1996.Broza_.pdf
Szeptycki, Andrzej. "Catalog of the world Protura." Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia-Series B: Invertebrata 50.1 (2007): 1-210. http://www.isez.pan.krakow.pl/journals/azc/pdf/azc_i/50B(1)/01.pdf
H. E. Ewing, The Protura of North America, Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Volume 33, Issue 3, 1 September 1940, Pages 495–551, https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/33.3.495
Robert T. Allen "Studies on the North American Protura 1: catalogue and atlas of the Protura of North America; description of new species; key to the species of Eosentomon," Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 156(1), 97-116, (1 June 2007). https://doi.org/10.1635/0097-3157(2007)156[97:SOTNAP]2.0.CO;2
Galli, L. (2022). Updates to Szeptycki’s check-list of the Protura of the World. Biogeographia – The Journal of Integrative Biogeography, 37(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.21426/B637258115 Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1j82p1gq
Machida, Ryuichiro, and Ichiro Takahashi. "Rearing technique for proturans (Hexapoda: Protura)." Pedobiologia 48.3 (2004): 227-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2003.01.001
Loris Galli, Matteo Capurro, Elisa Colasanto, Tony Molyneux, Andy Murray, Carlo Torti, Matteo Zinni "A synopsis of the ecology of Protura (Arthropoda: Hexapoda)," Revue suisse de Zoologie, 126(2), 155-164, (1 January 2020) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3463443
Thibaud, J. C., Sendra, A., & Shrubovych, J. (2022). Historical and global scale catalogue of diplurologists (1842-2019) and proturologists (1907-2020). Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France, 127(1), 19-36. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alberto-Sendra/publication/359520115_Historical_and_global_scale_catalogue_of_diplurologists_1842-2019_and_proturologists_1907-2020/links/6242b42a8068956f3c5604eb/Historical-and-global-scale-catalogue-of-diplurologists-1842-2019-and-proturologists-1907-2020.pdf
Dindal, D. L. (Ed.). (1990). Soil biology guide (No. 631.46 D5). New York: Wiley.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1319793
Böhm, Alexander, et al. "Confocal imaging of the exo-and endoskeleton of Protura after nondestructive DNA extraction." Soil Organisms 83.3 (2011): 335-345.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1230631/bgimage
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40878828#page/320/mode/1up
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41498818#page/283/mode/1up
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34552451#page/185/mode/1up
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2355615#page/427/mode/1up
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34961649#page/107/mode/1up
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16195985#page/174/mode/1up
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15672452#page/345/mode/1up
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mmnd.19650120420
https://www.proquest.com/openview/a8c356ccbcc51ac810ebd3ed59ef48dd/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=26475
Galli, L., Capurro, M., Colasanto, E., Molyneux, T., Murray, A., Torti, C., & Zinni, M. (2020). A synopsis of the ecology of Protura (Arthropoda: Hexapoda). Revue suisse de Zoologie, 126(2), 155-164. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3463443
https://www.soil-organisms.org/index.php/SO/article/view/254
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6ng7g6td
Hansen, J. A., Bernard, E. C., & Moulton, J. K. (2010). A defensive behavior of Acerentulus confinis (Berlese)(Protura: Acerentomidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 112(1), 43-46. https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797-112.1.43
Dell’Ampio, E., Szucsich, N. U., & Pass, G. (2011). Protura and molecular phylogenetics: status quo of a young love. Soil Organisms, 83(3), 347-358. www.soil-organisms.org/index.php/SO/article/view/256
Luan, Y. X., Mallatt, J. M., Xie, R. D., Yang, Y. M., & Yin, W. Y. (2005). The phylogenetic positions of three basal-hexapod groups (Protura, Diplura, and Collembola) based on ribosomal RNA gene sequences. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 22(7), 1579-1592. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msi148
Carapelli, A., Bu, Y., Chen, W. J., Nardi, F., Leo, C., Frati, F., & Luan, Y. X. (2019). Going deeper into high and low phylogenetic relationships of Protura. Genes, 10(4), 292. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10040292
Xué, L., Dallai, R., & Yin, W. Y. (1993). Tracheal ultrastructure of protura (Insecta: Apterygota). International Journal of Insect Morphology and Embryology, 22(1), 13-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-7322(93)90030-5
Rusek, J., Shrubovych, J., & Szeptycki, A. (2012). Head porotaxy and chaetotaxy of order Acerentomata (Protura). Zootaxa, 3262(1), 54-61. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3262.1.5
Dittrich, K., & Wipfler, B. (2021). A review of the hexapod tracheal system with a focus on the apterygote groups. Arthropod Structure & Development, 63, 101072. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asd.2021.101072
Online resources:
https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=protura
https://www.chaosofdelight.org/protura
https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/proturans.htm