Amblyiulus Silvestri, 1896

Evsyukov, Aleksandr P., Golovatch, Sergei I. & Antic, Dragan Z., 2021, The millipede genera Amblyiulus Silvestri, 1896 and Syrioiulus Verhoeff, 1914 in the Caucasus, with notes on their distributions (Diplopoda, Julida, Julidae), ZooKeys 1048, pp. 109-143 : 109

Genus Amblyiulus Silvestri, 1896

Type species.

Julus barroisi Porat, 1893, by original designation.

Diagnostic remarks.

Here we follow Tabacaru’s (1978) opinion that the genera of the subfamily/tribe Pachyiulinae /-ini are best to be diagnosed using a complex of characters, both gonopodal and somatic. In the latest review of this tribe ( Mauriès 1982), all genera are divided into three groups depending on the structure of the apical part of the opisthomere, viz., the presence/absence of a fovea and the presence/absence of a pseudoflagellum. He mistakenly assigned the genus Amblyiulus to group 3 (along with many other genera like Dolichoiulus ), which have neither a fovea nor a pseudoflagellum. However, in accordance with our and earlier descriptions (e.g., Golovatch 2018), Amblyiulus has a fovea, however small, on the top of the solenomere. By the presence of a fovea and the absence of a pseudoflagellum, the genera Parapachyiulus Golovatch, 1979 and Dangaraiulus Golovatch, 1979 also join this group ( Golovatch 1979, 2018). According to a number of other characters, such as the presence of frontal setae, apicoventral lobes on the male mandibles, and the mesomeral process being as high as the opisthomere, Amblyiulus belongs to Mauriès’ subgroup 3aa, together with the genera Syrioiulus and Promeritoconus . However, it seems noteworthy that sometimes frontal setae can be absent, while male mandibular stipites can remain unmodified.

The promere in Amblyiulus is narrowed in the basal third, in contrast to that in Promeritoconus , which is narrowed apically; in the apical part it may have one or two denticles, but sometimes none. The head can be with or without frontal setae. The eyes are mostly absent. The opisthomere of the posterior gonopod is tripartite: a solenomere, an anterior process, and an anteromesal or lateral rod, vs. bipartite in Syrioiulus .

Species included.

Amblyiulus barroisi (Porat, 1893), Amblyiulus cedrophilus (Attems, 1910), Amblyiulus festae (Silvestri, 1895), Amblyiulus georgicus Lohmander, 1932, Amblyiulus hirtus sp. nov., and possibly several others, but their identity requires verification ( Golovatch 2018).