Trichopolydesmus eremitis Verhoeff, 1898

Antic, Dragan, Vagalinski, Boyan, Stoev, Pavel & Akkari, Nesrine, 2022, A review of the cavernicolous Trichopolydesmidae (Diplopoda, Polydesmida) from the Carpathian-Balkan arch and the Rhodope Mountains, with descriptions of two new genera and three new species, ZooKeys 1097, pp. 1-46 : 1

Trichopolydesmus eremitis Verhoeff, 1898

Figs 5 , 17G, H , 18

Trichopolydesmus eremitis Verhoeff 1898: 363, figs 6-8.

Trichopolydesmus eremitis - Attems 1899: 429; Attems 1940: 168, fig. 240; Verhoeff 1941a: 186, figs 15, 16; Verhoeff 1941b: 44, figs 47, 48; Ceuca 1958: 340, figs 7-9; Ceuca 1992: 416; Tabacaru et al. 2003: 133; Tabacaru and Giurginca 2016: 100, fig. 14A, B; Kime and Enghoff 2011: 72, 266; Giurginca 2021: 89, fig. 55.

Diagnosis.

As for the monospecific genus.

Material examined.

Holotype ♂ (by monotypy, two microslides: ZSM-A20033529 and ZMB 13160 ), Herkulesbad (Băile Herculane , Romania), leg. K. Verhoeff. ZSM-A20033529 (Fig. 5A ): head in several pieces, only first three antennomeres of one antenna, collum, rings 3-5, 8-10, 12, 13-14, 15-20. ZMB 13160 (Fig. 5B ): gonopods, one leg pair (7?).

Additional material.

1 ♂ (VMNH110683), body in two pieces in alcohol (Fig. 5C ), ring 7 and gonopods missing. For more details see below.

Distribution.

Known from several caves in the southern part of the Carpathians in Romania: Peştera Hoţilor de la Băile Herculane (type locality), Peştera nr. 40 de la Ineleţ, Peştera Cicioara, Peştera Cornetul Vârcanilor, Peştera Cloşani, Peştera Vacilor de la Cloşani and Peştera din Poiana Lazului (= Peştera lui Mihai Arjoc, = Peştera din Piatra Mică) ( Verhoeff 1898; Ceuca 1958; Tabacaru et al. 2003) (Fig. 18 ).

Remarks.

Verhoeff (1898) described this taxon from a single male he collected in the Hoţilor Cave in Băile Herculane. As he himself stated, several subsequent attempts to collect additional specimens in this cave were unsuccessful. Tabacaru (1980) stated that numerous searches in this cave failed too. One of us (DA) visited this cave in 2014 but also failed to find this species. In 2021, a small group of myriapodologists, including two of us (DA and BV) were not successful either. From Hoţilor Cave, only the male type specimen originally described by Verhoeff (1898) is known.

Sixty years after its original description, Ceuca (1958) examined more than 20 specimens of T. eremitis from three other caves and gave new and more detailed drawings of the gonopods (Fig. 17G, H ), as well as some notes on female habitus.

Hoffman (1980) wrote that he had received a male from Traian Ceuca, whose photograph is included in this paper (Fig. 5C ). Unfortunately, colleague Jackson Means informed us that there is no original label with this individual, but that on the jar, marked with MIR02733, it is written: " Trichopolydesmidae : Trichopolydesmus eremitis Verhoeff TOPOTYPES !! Hungary". This was probably an accidental mistake during the subsequent labeling. The male sent by Ceuca to Hoffman comes from one of the three caves in Romania listed in Ceuca’s (1958) paper. Considering the number of collected males from those three caves, we can only guess that this male comes from the Cloşani cave.

Similarly to Bacillidesmus filiformis , this species also has ventral denticles on podomeres of male anterior legs (Fig. 5H, I ). However, some other habitual characteristics are similar to Napocodesmus , Balkanodesminus gen. nov. and Rhodopodesmus gen. nov., viz., sensilla basiconica on antennomere 6 partially exposed outside the pit, while hypoproct and paraprocts are with more than two long setae (Fig. 5F, G ). Legs and antennomeres (as well as antennae in general) in this species are somewhat longer (slender) than in other representatives from the Carpathian-Balkan arch and the Rhodope Mountains, thus it seems to be the most strongly adapted to cave life among them.

Figures

Figure 5. Trichopolydesmus eremitis Verhoeff, 1898 A, D-F, I holotype ♂ (ZSM-A 20033529) B, H, J, K holotype ♂ (ZMB 13160) C ♂ (VMNH 110683) A microslide with habitus parts B microslide with gonopods and one lag pair C habitus, lateral view D collum, dorsal view E body rings 13 and 14, dorsal view F hypoproct, ventral view G telson, ventral view H leg? 7 I left legs 10 and 11 J, K? left gonopod, distomesal and distoanterolateral views, respectively. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (C), 0.1 mm (D-K).

Figure 17. Gonopods of cavernicolous Trichopolydesmidae from the Carpathian-Balkan arch and Rhodopes A-C Bacillidesmus filiformis (Latzel, 1884) lectotype ♂ (NHWM MY 3754) A after Attems (1898) B? left gonopod,? mesal view, after Attems (1940) C? left gonopod,? mesal view, present study D Banatodesmus jeanneli (Tabacaru, 1980) syntype ♂, right gonopod, mesal view, after Tabacaru (1980) E, F Napocodesmus florentzae Tabacaru, 1975 holotype ♂, right gonopod, mesal and anterior views, respectively, after Tabacaru (1975) G, H Trichopolydesmus eremitis Verhoeff, 1898 ♂ from Closani cave, right gonopod, antero-mesal and mesal views, respectively, after Ceuca (1958) I Balkanodesminus bulgaricus (Strasser, 1962) gen. nov., comb. nov. ♂ from Ponora Cave (NMNHS- 10813), left gonopod, mesal view J Balkanodesminus serbicus gen. nov. et sp. nov. paratype ♂ (NHMW MY 10263), left gonopod, mesal view K Rhodopodesmus niveus gen. nov. et sp. nov. holotype ♂ (NMNHS- 10823), left gonopod, mesal view L Balkanodesminus dentatus (Strasser, 1966 a) gen. nov., comb. nov., stat. nov. syntype ♂, right gonopod, mesal view, after Strasser (1966 a) M Balkanodesminus dentatoides gen. nov. et sp. nov. paratype ♂ (NHMW MY 10258), right gonopod, mesal view N Balkanodesminus dentatoides gen. nov. et sp. nov. ♂ from Sopotska Cave (NHMW MY 10267), left gonopod, mesal view. Scale bars: 0.05 mm.

Figure 18. Distribution of cavernicolous Trichopolydesmidae from the Carpathian-Balkan arch and the Rhodope Mountains.