Asphalidesmus Silvestri, 1910

Mesibov, Robert, 2009, A new millipede genus and a new species of Asphalidesmus Silvestri, 1910 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Dalodesmidea) from southern Tasmania, Australia, ZooKeys 7 (7), pp. 55-74 : 67-68

Asphalidesmus Silvestri, 1910

Asphalidesmus Silvestri 1910:362 ; Attems 1914:242, 1926:153, 1931:77, 1940:205; Brolemann 1916:547; Verhoeff 1932:1587, 1936:12; Jeekel 1971:313, 1982:12, 1984:85, 1986:46; Hoffman 1980:150; Mesibov 2002:532; Golovatch 2003:53.

Atopodesmus Chamberlin 1920:153 ; Attems 1926:134, 1940:356; Verhoeff 1932:1562; Jeekel 1971:313, 1984:85, 1986:46; Hoffman 1980:186; Mesibov 2002:532.

Type species: Asphalidesmus leae Silvestri, 1910

Other included species: A. golovatchi , sp. n., A. parvus ( Chamberlin, 1920)

Remarks. I reviewed the taxonomic placement of Asphalidesmus several years ago ( Mesibov 2002) and reported that the genus had been assigned at various times to Dalodesmidae Cook, 1896 , Fontariidae Attems, 1926 and Vanhoeffeniidae Attems, 1914 before being placed by Jeekel (1984) in Haplodesmidae Cook, 1895 in the suborder Polydesmidea Pocock, 1887 . I was unaware at the time that Asphalidesmus had also been listed in Xystodesmidae Cook, 1895 by Attems (1914). Atopodesmus , meanwhile, had been variously assigned to Cryptodesmidae Karsch, 1880 and Oniscodesmidae de Saussure, 1860 . When I synonymised the two Tasmanian genera under Asphalidesmus ( Mesibov 2002) , I accepted Jeekel’s family placement but pointed out that Haplodesmidae had become a temporary storage area for small polydesmidans with dense metatergal tuberculation and lateral expansion of the collum or the paranota of the second tergite.

Golovatch (2003) argued that the genitalia of Asphalidesmus were most like those of Southern Hemisphere Dalodesmidea . He noted that the lack of sphaerotrichomes in Asphalidesmus complicated its placement in Dalodesmidae , and that there were important differences in non-sexual characters between Asphalidesmus species and described forms in the other currently recognised dalodesmidean family, Vaalogonopodidae Verhoeff, 1940 . He therefore informally referred Asphalidesmus to the suborder Dalodesmidea but said family placement would be premature ( Golovatch 2003). In this paper I formalise Golovatch’s suggestion by placing Asphalidesmus in Dalodesmidea (see above) without assigning it to a family.

There are now two Australian groups floating within Dalodesmidea : the Noteremus - Paredrodesmus - Procophorella group discussed above, and the Asphalidesmus group, which is likely to include Agathodesmus steeli Silvestri, 1910 from New South Wales. More needs to be learned about the large and still largely undescribed dalodesmidean fauna of Australia and of New Zealand ( Johns 1970) before a satisfactory hypothesis of relationships within the suborder can be proposed.