Pseudotremia nodosa Loomis

Shear, William A., 2011, Cave millipeds of the United States. X. New species and records of the genus Pseudotremia Cope. 2. Species from Virginia, USA (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida, Cleidogonidae), Zootaxa 3109, pp. 1-38 : 27

Pseudotremia nodosa Loomis

Figs. 78–84

P. nodosa Loomis1939 , p. 175. Shear, 1972, p. 178.

Type locality: English Cave, 0.9 mi. south of Hamilton School, Powell River, Claiborne Co., TENNESSEE.

New records: VIRGINIA: Lee Co.: Long’s Cave, 18 October 1994, D. Hubbard, 3 ƤƤ; Cave-in Cave, 29 November 1996, D. Hubbard, 3; Spangler Cave, 3.5 mi. W of Jonesville, 27 August 1971, D. Culver, J. Holsinger, J. Beck, 3 ƤƤ; Sweet Potato Cave, 6.5 mi ESE of Rose Hill, 2 August 1975, T. Kane, 3 ƤƤ; Molly Waggle Cave, 23 July 1973, J. Holsinger, D. Culver, 3 ƤƤ, 2 August 1975, T. Kane, 3 ƤƤ; Thompson Cedar Cave, 2 m I SW of Jonesville, 26 November 1971, J. Holsinger, 3; Mason Cave, 6 February 2003, D. Hubbard, m; Gilley’s Cave, 23 November 1967, J. Holsinger, ƤƤ; Gallohan Cave #1, 7 mi SE of Rose Hill, 3 August 1977, J. Holsinger, D. Culver, 3; Cope Cave, 5 mi WSW of Jonesville, 23 August 1969, J. Holsinger, 3 ƤƤ, Smith Caves, 6 mi ESE of Rose Hill, 19 July 1979, J. Holsinger, 3; Ely’s Moonshine Cave, 5 mi E of Rose Hill, 26 July 1975, J. Holsinger et al., 3; Cedar Hill Cave, 5 August 1969, J. Holsinger, D. Powers, 3; Unthanks Cave, 26 April 1970, J. Holsinger, 3; Tomson-Cedar Cave, Cedars Natural Area Preserve, 10 km S of Jonesville, 15 May 1990, C. A. Pagus, 3, ƤƤ;

Notes: A highly troglomorphic species with about 10 unpigmented ocelli on each side of the head in most specimens (fig. 80), P. nodosa has nearly cylindrical segments, and the series of nodules along the metatergal margins described by Loomis (1939) and Shear (1972) may be suppressed or lacking in the posterior parts of specimens from many of the caves listed above, or absent entirely (figs. 79, 81). The gonopods (figs. 82–84) and ninth legpair (fig. 78) are reduced and simplified to a greater degree than in any other Virginia species.

The records given above are all in the drainage of the Powell River between the communities of Rose Hill and Jonesville. The Powell River Valley in Lee County is highly karstic with scores of recorded and unrecorded caves; undoubtedly many more of them house populations of P. nodosa . Lee County is the westernmost county in Virginia and borders on Claiborne County, Tennessee, where P. nodosa is also common. In 1972, I designated a group of species as the Eburnea Group, of which P. nodosa is the most northerly occurring species. At least 10 additional species extend southward into Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Lee Co., relatively small in area (437 square miles [1,131.8 km 2]), has been quite extensively explored for caves; Holsinger (1975) was able to record 209 and many more have been discovered since. In addition to the two previously described species P. nodosa and P. v al ga, I describe below five additional new species. This small county thus has a greater diversity in Pseudotremia than any other in the United States. Are more new Pseudotremia lurking uncollected in Lee Co.? Only time will tell. An excellent and rewarding research project would involve collecting intensively in the county and applying molecular methods to try and determine the relationships and exact distributions of the seven known species and any new ones that might turn up.

Figures

FIGURES 73 – 79. New and previously described species of Pseudotremia. Figs. 73 – 77, Pseudotremia ryensis, n. sp. Fig. 73, ocelli. Fig. 74, diplosegment, dorsal view. Fig. 75, gonopods, ventral view. Fig. 76, gonopods, anterior view. Fig. 77, right ninth leg, anterior view. Figs. 78, 79, P. n o d o s a. Fig. 78, right ninth leg, anterior view. Fig. 79, metazonite, lateral view.

FIGURES 80 – 85. Previously described species of Pseudotremia. Figs. 80 – 84, Pseudotremia nodosa. Fig. 80, ocelli. Fig. 81, metazonite, dorsal view. Fig. 82, gonopods, anterior view; cc, colpocoxite; lap, lateral angiocoxite process; map, median angiocoxite process. Fig. 83, gonopods, lateral view; map, median angiocoxite process; vcp, ventral colpocoxite process. Fig. 84, gonopods, ventral view; labels as in figs. 83, 84. Fig. 85, P. valga, anterior end of male, lateral view.