Scotopetalum Shear, 2000

Akkari, Nesrine, Macek, Oliver & Stoev, Pavel, 2023, A revision of the millipede family Paracortinidae (Diplopoda, Callipodida), ZooKeys 1187, pp. 341-399 : 341

Genus Scotopetalum Shear, 2000 stat. rev.

Scotopetalum Shear, 2000: 96, fig. 1; Stoev and Geoffroy 2004: 94, figs 1-8 (proposed synonymy with genus Paracortina ).

Type species.

Scotopetalum warreni Shear, 2000.

Included species.

Scotopetalum chinensis (Stoev & Geoffroy, 2004), comb. nov.; Scotopetalum warreni Shear, 2000.

Diagnosis.

Differs from Angulifemur by having parallel stems of telopodites; from Paracortina by the absence of large anteromedian subfalcate coxal process, and from the genus Crassipetalum gen. nov. by the much smaller prefemoroidal process/es and the very reduced subfalcate coxal process (b).

Comments.

Shear (2000) described the genus Scotopetalum in the family Schizopetalidae , with the following diagnosis: "distinct from other genera of Schizopetalidae in lacking any indication of a sternum or coxal process in the gonopod, and in having no crest transition (full number of primary crests present on all segments). Each hemipleurite bears a series of five setae; all are in anterior position on segments 1-4, setae b, d, and e migrating posteriorly on segment 5, and all setae are posterior on segment 6." The author doubted the validity of family Paracortinidae , which he believed could only have a status of subfamily within Schizopetalidae . He also interpreted the long falcate process typical for the family to be of a sternal origin.

In their review of the family, Stoev and Geoffroy (2004) described two new species of Paracortinidae from China and Vietnam, with the Chinese species ( Paracortina chinensis ) being quite similar to the species previously described by Shear (2000). The authors correctly noted this fact and compared the two species, highlighting the characters that distinguish them. They also synonymised Scotopetalum with Paracortina , considering the absence of a falcate coxal process and a second prefemoroidal process to be variable characters in the family. However, Stoev and Geoffroy (2004) failed to compare the structure of the telopodite in detail, which is quite specific in these two species. After a careful analysis, and now having much more material for comparison (including some of the Paracortina species described by Wang and Zhang 1993), we believe that Scotopetalum is a clearly defined morphological group and here we revive its original status.