Ballistura fitchi was originally described from Costa Rica. However like Ballistura filifera, it may have been introduced to several countries including Holland and Australia where it has been reported as being abundant in glasshouses. The only record for Ballistura fitchi in UK/Eire was made by Greenslade and Fletcher (1986) from earthworm-rearing beds at Rothamsted but it is now probably extinct there. There are no specimens mounted on slides in the NHML collection. Ballistura fitchi differs from Ballistura filifera by having 8+8 ocelli, tibiotarsus of foot with two long tenant setae with one of them clavate (all pointed in Ballistura filifera) and no filament at the end of the empodium of the foot (present in Ballistura filifera). In addition, Ballistura fitchi has only one ventral (anterior) seta on the dens (three in Ballistura filifera). However, there is some confusion in the literature as to the true identities of species of 'Proisotoma' (including Ballistura) which have obviously been introduced to Europe from warmer climes. For example, Pachyotoma ultonica described by Carpenter in 1911 from garden soil in Co. Antrim, Ireland, is probably a Ballistura species close to Ballistura fitchi but no types appear to exist to allow the identity to be checked. Thus species of Ballistura that turn up in heated situations throughout UK/Eire need to be carefully examined to confirm their identities.

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