Rhysodesmus montezumae (Saussure, 1859)

John Hollier, Edmund Schiller & Nesrine Akkari, 2017, An annotated list of the Diplopoda described by Aloïs Humbert alone and with Henri de Saussure, and the Diplopoda from Saussure’s Mexico expedition, Revue suisse de Zoologie 124 (2), pp. 203-224 : 214-215

montezumae Saussure, 1859a: 323 [ Polydesmus (Fontaria) ].

Versant orientale de la Cordillière du Mexique. Unspecified series.

Saussure (1860) gave a much more detailed redescription of both sexes, and stated that it was common around Mirador and Cordova, and that he took specimens in many localities between 1000 and 7000 feet in altitude. The MHNG has one ♂, one ♀ and a badly damaged specimen in the dry collection and a further ♀ specimen in alcohol, all under the name Fontaria montezumae . The data labels of the dry specimens read “Puebla, Mexique” with only that of the ♀ having Saussure’s name on the label. There is also a glass vial containing a dry pair of gonopods secured through the cork stopper. The ♀ in alcohol has the data label “Moyoapan”. These are all part of the type series. The ♂ was designated as lectotype by Hoffman (1999: 348). There is a further paralectotype in the ZMHB ( Moritz & Fischer, 1978; ZMB203).

Rhysodesmus montezumae (Saussure, 1859)