Otostigmus (Dactylotergitius) Verhoeff, 1937

Schileyko, Arkady A., Vahtera, Varpu & Edgecombe, Gregory D., 2020, An overview of the extant genera and subgenera of the order Scolopendromorpha (Chilopoda): a new identification key and updated diagnoses, Zootaxa 4825 (1), pp. 1-64 : 44-45

Otostigmus (Dactylotergitius) Verhoeff, 1937

Synonyms. Coxopleurotostigmus Bucherl, 1939 .

Type species. Otostigmus caudatus Brölemann, 1902 (by monotypy).

Diagnosis. Second article of telopodite of maxilla 2 without dorsal distal spur, pretarsus lacking accessory spines. Forcipular tooth-plates present, trochantero-prefemur with well-developed process (figs 2, 15 in Chagas-Jr et al. 2007). Tergites without longitudinal keels. Sternites with incomplete paramedian sutures anteriorly. LBS 7 lacking spiracles, the latter with atrium. Legs with tarsal spur(s). Caudal margin of ultimate tergite of the male medially elongated in digitiform projection (figs 3, 4, 17 in Chagas-Jr et al. 2007); the latter longer than the corresponding tergite, its caudal end with a tuft of setae on both lateral sides. Coxopleuron either lacking process (in O. (D.) caudatus Brölemann, 1902 ) or with apically pointed, spineless process (in males of O. (D.) cavalcantii Bücherl, 1939 ) oriented ventrad (figs 12, 18 in Chagas-Jr et al. 2007); in females of this species coxopleural process virtually absent. Prefemur of the ultimate leg lacking both spines and corner spine, pretarsus well-developed.

Number of species. 2 (Chagas-Jr 2012, Bonato et al. 2016).

Sexual dimorphism. Present in both species.

Remarks. Treated as a subgenus in Chagas-Jr et al. (2007: 57), Edgecombe & Bonato (2011: 401), Chagas-Jr (2012: 1).

Revalidating O. ( Dactylotergitius ) Chagas-Jr et al. (2007) wrote in its diagnosis (p. 58): “claw [= pretarsus] of the distal article of the second maxillary telopodite without accessory claw [= spine] and second article without [dorso-]distal spine [= spur]”. We note that the absence vs. presence of both of these structures is of minor taxonomic value (see Remarks on Parotostigmus above) and the females of Dactylotergitius cannot be separated morphologically from females of some species of Parotostigmus. The only recent account on Dactylotergitius (Chagas-Jr 2007) contained no information on structure of the labrum.