Mecistocephalus yamashinai Takakuwa, 1936

Published, First, 2007, The Mecistocephalidae of the Japanese and Taiwanese islands (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha), Zootaxa 1396, pp. 1-84 : 49-50

Mecistocephalus yamashinai Takakuwa, 1936

Fig. 60

[1] Mecistocephalus (Mecistocephalus) yamashinai: Takakuwa 1936b — Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa 26: 434 (original description)

Mecistocephalus (Mecistocephalus) yamashinai: Takakuwa 1938a — Annot. Zool. Japon. 17: 355

Mecistocephalus yamasinai [sic]: Takakuwa 1939 — Trans. Biogeogr. Soc. Japan 3: 124 (redescription); fig. 4–6

Mecistocephalus (Mecistocephalus) yamashinai: Takakuwa 1940 — Fauna Nippon. 9: 67 (key); fig. 61–63

Mecistocephalus yamashinai: Takakuwa 1943 — Bull. Biogeogr. Soc. Japan 13: 170

Mecistocephalus yamashinai: Murakami 1993 — List Species Anim. Japan 5: 105

Mecistocephalus yamashinai: Shinohara 1999 — Pictorial Keys Soil Anim. Japan: 709

Diagnosis. A Mecistocephalus species with 49 leg­bearing segments. Body length reaching at least 2.5 cm. Head about 1.6 times as long as wide. Areolate part of the clypeus without smooth insulae, each side with 4 setae; clypeal ratio about 1. Buccae with setae on the posterior half only. Mandible: basal tooth much shorter than the first lamella, first lamella with about 10 teeth. Forcipular article I with two teeth, one distal to the other, distal tooth larger than the basal one. Sternal sulcus furcate. About 30 small pores on each coxopleuron.

Type material. Number of specimens, sex and age not stated ( Takakuwa, 1936b); possibly only one specimen (holotype).

Type locality. ‘ Yogi’ [= Naha], Okinawa, Ryukyu Ids ( Takakuwa, 1936b) .

Depository of type material. The type is probably lost (see Discussion).

Material examined. None.

Description. Body size reaching at least 2.5 cm. Body colour yellow, without dark patches, head and forcipular segment darker. Head about 1.6 times as long as wide. Clypeus: clypeal ratio about 1; areolate part without smooth insulae, 4 setae on each side of the clypeus (3 setae aligned transversally and 1 posterior to them). Labrum: posterior margin of each side­piece with 2 small notches close to the medial piece. Spiculum present; buccae with about 10 setae on the posterior half only. Mandible: about 6 lamellae; first lamella with about 10 teeth; average intermediate lamella with about 15 teeth; basal tooth much shorter than the first lamella. Second maxillae: telopodite with a short claw. Forcipules: article I with two teeth, the basal one only slightly smaller than the distal one; articles II and III each with a tooth; tarsungulum with one basal tooth (see Remarks). A total of 49 leg­bearing segments. Sternal sulcus furcate, with a right to obtuse angle between the branches. Last leg­bearing segment: sternum about as long as wide; about 30 small pores on each coxopleuron.

Distribution in the considered area.

Ryukyu Islands: ‘Yogi’ [= Naha] [1].

General distribution. Only known from the type locality.

Remarks. M. yamashinai may differ from the very similar M. pauroporus Takakuwa, 1936 , which also occurs in the Ryukyu Islands, in the shape of the labral margin, the shape of the basal tooth of the mandible and the number of teeth in the first lamella, the pattern and relative size of forcipular teeth, and the number of setae on the buccae. However, some of these characters are often variable and we cannot evaluate their diagnostic value properly. It is anyway remarkable that these two species were recognised by the same author and described as different in the same papers ( Takakuwa 1936b, 1939). For the differences with the similar M. karasawai n. sp. see remarks under that species.