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L amos : Discovery of Belba sculpta M ihel č i č , 1957 171 pomorphy, the spine-like seta l’ on femur II with B. bulanovae , B . daghestanica, B . flammeisetosa , B . meridionalis and B . sarvari . It additionally pos- sesses the derived smooth, flagellate, elongate to very elongate setae d and l’ on both genu IV and tibia IV which are also found in B . aurata, B . bulanovae , B . dubinini, B . flammeisetosa , B . me­ ridionalis , B . prasadi and B . sasakawai . The apo- morph long seta ps1 may be interpreted as being a synapomorphy of B. meridionalis , B . sasakawai and B . sculpta . In two early pioneer papers, N orton (1979a, 1979b) already suggested an at least biphyletic origin for the genus Belba , based on his studies of the North American damaeid fauna, and iden- tified a “ corynopus group” and a “ jacoti group” in the species of the genus. With regard to their defining characters, these species groups agree very well with those identified by me. A slight difference between the classification system of N orton (1979a, 1979b) and that of the present publication is that N orton includes the subgenus Protobelba within the corynopus group, whereas I do not. The morphology of the representatives of the jacoti group, based on N orton (1979a, p. 531), approximately corresponds to that of the members of the Belba sculpta species group in that they show: cerotegument granular or fi- lamentous, epimeral setation 3-1-3-4, nymphs without porose apodemes, and notogaster does not carry a compact mass of debris. It is notable that the representatives of the jacoti group pos- sess an apomorphic nymphal regressed famulus sunken in a sclerotized cup ( N orton 1979a), si- milar to the one of the Dossenwald Belba sculpta . The “two or three species” ( N orton 1979b, p. 537) of the jacoti group occur in southern North America, especially in Florida and some Carib- bean islands ( N orton , 1979b). It is possible that they comprise a clade distinct from the Eurasian members of the sculpta group. Since Belba jacoti W ilson , 1936, whose original description is partly inaccurate and does not even suffice to locate the genus in Belba , has not yet been formally redescribed and I also have not seen any coll- ection material of this taxon, I prefer to employ the name “ Belba sculpta species group” for the cluster of Eurasian Belba species related to Bel­ ba sculpta . Although they do not belong to the corynopus group, it is somewhat unclear whether or not the species Belba clavasensilla N orton & P alacios - V argas , 1982, B . crassisetosa B ayartogtokh , 2000, and B . rossica B ulanova -Z achvatkina , 1962, belong to the sculpta group. The nymphs of the arboreal Belba clavasensilla from Mexico display a plesiomorph emergent famulus ( N or ­ ton & P alacios -V argas , 1982), while the two last named closely related species differ from those in the sculpta group in their femoral setation of 7-7-5-5, based on the descriptions in B ayartog ­ tokh (2000) and W ang & N orton (1995), respec- tively. 3.3.3 Evolutionary systematics of the Belba sculpta species group The morphological differences between mem- bers of the Belba sculpta species group and representatives of the genera Belbodamaeus B ulanova -Z achvatkina , 1967, Dameobelba S ell ­ nick , 1928, and Subbelba B ulanova - Z achvatkina , 1967, are slight. The genus Subbelba is assumed by numerous authors such as N orton (1977a) and M iko (2006) to possess a degree of femoral neotrichy com- parable to Metabelba , displaying 9 or 10 setae on each of femora I and II as well as 8 or 9 se- tae on each of femora III and IV. However, the illustration of femur II of Subbelba partiocrispa B ulanova - Z achvatkina , 1967, the type species of the genus, presented by B ulanova - Z achvatkina (1975: p. 138, fig. 272) shows only 6 setae. The proportions of the segment and the details of the setation show an excellent correspondence to that of Oribata montanus K ulczynski , 1902 (cfr. M iko 2006: p. 205, fig. 109b). K ulczynski (1902: tab. IV, fig. 69) presents a precise drawing of leg IV of this species in which it is shown to possess only 4 setae on femur IV, namely the usual d, l’, v’ and ev’. B ulanova - Z achvatkina (1967) noticed the great similarities between Subbelba partiocrispa and Oribata montanus, suggesting that the latter may also belong to Subbelba. At one place in her contribution (1967: p. 230), she actually refers to K ulczynski ´s species as Subbelba montana . With Subbelba not showing any femoral neo­ trichy, the status of Caenobelba N orton , 1980. may be challenged. It is highly likely that Sub­ belba partiocrispa shares the normal femoral setation of 7-6-4-4 shown by Caenobelba alle­ ganiensis N orton , 1980. Additionally, the type species of Subbelba and Caenobelba share a trochanteral setation of 1-1-2-2, a genual seta- tion of 4-4-3-3, a tibial associated setation 0-1- 1-0, absence of spinae adnatae, absence of the propodolateral apophysis, short apophyses Sa and Sp and other features, based on the initial accounts of B ulanova -Z achvatkina (1967, 1975)