Myrmecodesmus sheari

Recuero, Ernesto, 2014, A new name for Myrmecodesmus potosinus (Shear) 1973, a homonym of Myrmecodesmus potosinus (Chamberlin) 1943 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Pyrgodesmidae), Zootaxa 3869 (5), pp. 594-596 : 594-595

Myrmecodesmus sheari , new name

Synonymies:

Myrmecodesmus potosinus, Shear 1977 , p. 255. Bolivaresmus potosinus, Shear 1973 , p. 300.

Etymology. The new name is in honour to Dr. William A. Shear, for his great contribution to our knowledge of Diplopoda and to this polydesmid group in particular.

Thus, the current number of Myrmecodesmus species present in North America and northern Central America is set at 30, including the latest described species, M. reddelli Shelley, 2004 . They are distributed from Belize and Chiapas in the south, extending north along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico as far as Florida ( Hoffman 1999; Bueno-Villegas et al.

2004; Shelley 2004). To them we must add four additional species from South America ( Brazil and Argentina), as a result of the synonymization of Gonographis Schubart, 1945 with Myrmecodesmus by Golovatch (1999), setting the total number of species currently at 34.

A pending issue in the taxonomy of this group was already proposed by Shear (1977), suggesting that the monotypic genus Decaporodesmus might be also synonymous with Myrmecodesmus . In this case the former name would have priority over the second ( Hoffman 1999). The description of Decaporodesmus motzoranginis Kenyon, 1899 was based on a single type of unknown sex from “Motzorango” (that is most likely Motzorongo), Veracruz, Mexico and whose current location is unknown ( Kenyon 1899; Hoffman 1999). Unless the type is found it would be necessary to examine topotypic material to ascertain the taxonomic relationship between both genera.

The author thanks Mario García-París for comments on the manuscript, and is supported by a DGAPA-UNAM postdoctoral fellowship.