Species of Willemia are small, white, blind, soil- or sand-dwelling Collembola which have no trace of a furca. Willemia scandinavica (0.7 mm) has two anal spines (Fig. 1). The PAO is relatively large with between five and nine slightly elongated vesicles arranged in a circle or slight oval (Fig. 2). There are 2+2 setae along the midline of abd4 (Fig. 3, 4) and seta p2 on abd5 is present. Willemia scandinavica is known only from two specimens collected by Bagnall from Chiselhurst Caves, Kent in 1938 (originally mis-labelled as Willemia anophthalma). They were discovered by Harold Gough in the early 1970s.

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Fig. 1 (above): Anal spines of Willemia scandinavica collected from Chiselhurst Caves, Kent in September 1938 by R.S. Bagnall.

Fig. 3 (above): Dorsal side of the posterior abdomen of the same specimen of Willemia scandinavica shown in Fig. 1. There are only 2+2 setae along the midline of the fourth abdominal segment (abd4).
Fig. 4 (below): Higher magnification view of the region surrounded by the green box in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 (above): Seven-lobed (1-7) post-antennal organ of the same specimen of Willemia scandinavica shown in Fig. 1.