Nannaria minor Chamberlin 1918a

Hennen, Derek A. & Shelley, Rowland M., 2015, A contribution on the milliped tribe Nannariini (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae): Revalidation of Mimuloria Chamberlin 1928; identities of Fontaria oblonga C. L. Koch 1847, and Nannaria minor Chamberlin 1918; elucidation of the tribal range; and commentaries on Nannaria Chamberlin 1918, and Oenomaea Hoffman 1964, Insecta Mundi 2015 (418), pp. 1-21 : 17

Nannaria minor Chamberlin 1918a

Fig. 25 .

Nannaria minor Chamberlin 1918a: 124 . Chamberlin and Hoffman 1958: 41. Hoffman 1964: 33, figs. 5–7, 11; 1999: 367. Marek et al. 2014: 37.

Type specimen. Male holotype ( MCZ) collected by R. Thaxter in July of an unknown year prior to 1918, at Burbank, Carter Co., Tennessee, in the Cherokee National Forest.

Remarks. Hoffman (1964) observed that N. minor had never been illustrated, which constituted an obstacle to advancing knowledge of the genus and tribe. He thus presented three somatic and an in situ gonopod drawings of an ostensibly conspecific male taken 43.2 km (27.0 mi) southwest of Burbank, not the holotype itself. We concur that this male is conspecific but believe that a dissected holotype gonopod should be drawn and provide such in fig. 25. The proximal divergence of the acropodite and prefemoral process, as opposed to their converging or being subparallel, seems significant as divergence of these structures in nannariinines is primarily distal. Furthermore, the short prefemoral branch is rounded and digitiform instead of spur-like and (sub)acuminate, as in Dr. Hoffman’s (1964, fig. 11) in situ drawing. As the holotype is the only type specimen, we cannot determine whether it truly represents the local population or is atypical in these regards. Securing a series of male topotypes, to address this matter and understand the local population, seems a priority for generic and tribal revisions, but fig. 25 depicts attributes of the holotype nearly a century after the genus and species were established ( Chamberlin 1918a).

Figures

Figures. 24–25. 24) Fontaria oblonga holotype, sketch of telopodite of left gonopod by R. L. Hoffman, subventral view, hairs and prostatic groove omitted. 25) Nannaria minor holotype, telopodite of right gonopod, ventral view. a, acropodite; pfp, prefemoral process.