Lithobius striatus Muralevitch, 1926 (= Lithobius fasciatus Muralevitch, 1929, syn. nov.)

Kiria, Eleonora, Barjadze, Shalva & Tuf, Ivan Hadrian, 2023, Checklist of Georgian centipedes (Myriapoda: Chilopoda), Caucasiana 2, pp. 177-188 : 177

30. Lithobius striatus Muralevitch, 1926 (= Lithobius fasciatus Muralevitch, 1929, syn. nov.)

Distribution in Georgia.

Abkhazia • Akhalsheni (6) ( Zalesskaja 1972). • Sokhumi (7) ( Zalesskaja 1978). Adjara • Batumi (12) ( Zalesskaja 1978). • Mtsvane Kontskhi (16) ( Zalesskaja 1972). • Kintrishi Strict Nature Reserve (21) ( Zalesskaja 1972). Samegrelo - Zemo Svaneti • Poti (14) ( Zalesskaja 1978). Imereti • Sataplia Nature Reserve (26) ( Zalesskaja 1972). Kakheti • Lagodekhi (57) ( Muralevitch 1926, Muralevitch 1929 and Zalesskaja 1978 as Lithobius fasciatus Muralevitch, 1929).

Global distribution.

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia ( Muralevitch 1926, 1929; Zalesskaja 1972, 1978).

Note.

Endemic to the Caucasus. Bonato et al. (2016) noted that "number of specimens, collecting localities and original description published by Muralevitch (1929 - Mém. Séct. Zool. Soc. Amis Sci. Nat., Anthr., Etnogr., 4: 102) are perfectly coincident with the data published by Muralevitch (1926 - Zool. Anz., 69: 36) for Lithobius striatus n. sp.". It is true that Muralevitch described several species of Lithobiidae twice, firstly in 1926 in Zoologischer Anzeiger and for the second time three years later [in Russian] in Memoires de la Section Zoologique de la Societe des Amis des Sciences Naturelles, d'Anthropologie et d 'Ethnographie. The second description is much more precise, but this paper is devoted just to Lithobiomorpha and Scutigeromorpha with a note in the introduction, that the next volume will contain data for other orders. A typographic footnote in Russian paper contains the year 1926 (see Muralevitch 1929: 4). Probably the delay in publishing of the Russian first part (in freshly created journal) forced Muralevitch (1926) to publish the “second” part in Zoologischer Anzeiger with a shortened version of the first part. Despite differences in morphology used by Zalesskaja (1978) in her key, descriptions of both species, L. striatus and L. fasciatus , are identical. Moreover, species L. fasciatus is missing in the later paper, the only missing species among all other previously described species. Zalesskaja´s (1978: 84-85) notes on localities of L. striatus in papers of Lignau (1903) and Muralevitch (1907, 1929) are confusing. It is obvious that Muralevitch (1926) changed his opinion about the name of this taxon and L. fasciatus is a junior objective synonym of L. striatus . Homonymous species L. fasciatus Newport, 1844, described from Italy, was transferred into the genus Eupolybothrus Verhoeff, 1907. Perhaps recognized homonymy with Newport's species by Muralevitch was the reason for the name shifting of his L. fasciatus to L. striatus .