Xenylla humicola is common species which is bluish black in colour and reaches 2.0 mm in length. Most records are from seashore debris and accumulated organic matter on the margins of saline water; it can be extremely abundant on the percolating filters of sewage treatment works inland. Xenylla humicola has a furca in which the mucro/dens is clearly separate (Fig. 1). The mucro is long and pointed and is distinctive. A unique chaetotaxic character is the presence of only 2+2 setae on the ventral side of the head either side of the ventral fluid-conducting channel (3+3 in other Xenylla species) but this is very difficult to see.

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Fig. 1 (above): Lateral view of the furca of Xenylla humicola collected from Minworth Sewage Works in 1980 by Peter Lawrence. The dens and mucro are clearly separate (*). man, manubrium.

Fig. 2 (above): Foot of the second leg (leg2) of the same specimen of Xenylla humicola shown in Fig. 1. The empodium is absent (as in all Xenylla sp.) and the tibiotarsus bears two long clavate setae (*).