Glyphiulus Gervais, 1847

Golovatch, Sergei I., Geoffroy, Jean-Jacques, Mauriès, Jean-Paul & Spiegel, Didier Van Den, 2007, Review of the millipede genus Glyphiulus Gervais, 1847, with descriptions of new species from Southeast Asia (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida, Cambalopsidae). Part 2: the javanicus-group, Zoosystema 29 (3), pp. 417-456 : 454-455

Genus Glyphiulus Gervais, 1847

TYPE SPECIES. — Iulus (recte: Julus ) granulatus Gervais, 1847 .

TYPE LOCALITY. — Mascarene Islands.

DIAGNOSIS. — Cambalopsidae with tergal crests evident at least on postcollar segments; similar crests often present also on collum, these not fragmented into more than two parts. Carinotaxy formulae of collum highly variable, often complex, but median crest, even if abbreviated anteriorly, usually clear. Carinotaxy formulae of postcollar segments usually 2(1)/2(1)+I/i+4/3+I/i+2(1)/2(1) ( granulatus -group) or 2(1)/2(1)+I/i+3/3+I/i+2(1)/2(1) ( javanicus -group), crests undivided or divided into three tubercles occurring only occasionally, same as three crests below I/i. Basalmost crests on ozoporiferous segments never hypertrophied, instead always being smallest, sometimes even abbreviated. Ozopores starting from segment 5, always lying on particularly prominent tubercles. Eyes usually present, though often reduced and sometimes unpigmented, especially so in cavernicoles.

Mentum of gnathochilarium usually divided. Male legs 1 from little modified to strongly reduced, either with coxal outgrowths contiguous but virtually never completely fused medially ( javanicus -group) or with leg remains (more rarely, retaining a few segments) widely separated due to a sternum devoid of median strictures ( granulatus -group). Male legs 2 nearly normal, not incrassate, coxae somewhat modified, and prefemora abbreviated frontally, for accommodation of penes. Male legs 3 with strongly elongated coxae.

Anterior gonopods usually with a shield-like coxosternum and a moveable, lateral, 1-segmented, often curved telopodite; flagella absent. Posterior gonopods compact, not elongated, often with apical flagelloid outgrowths.

REMARKS

The general distribution of the granulatus -group shows a quite coherent pattern, occupying a region between Sichuan, Hubei and Shanghai in the North, and central Vietnam in the South. This matches very closely the distribution of the javanicus -group ( Fig. 27), which ranges from between Sichuan and Zhejiang in the North to Java in the South. In other words, the distribution of the granulatus -group is somewhat more restricted and falls entirely within that of the javanicus -group, the latter thus fully reflecting the general range of Glyphiulus . Even after this review, there is no doubt that these generally subtropical to tropical, highly montane and often karstic areas contain many new species of this widespread and large genus waiting to be found and described.

The only outlying member of the javanicus -group appears to be G. javanicus itself.The strong isolation of this species from the remaining bulk, which is restricted to continental Southeast Asia ( Fig. 27), might well represent an accidental introduction from the mainland. Carl (1911) explicitly indicated a sugar cane plantation as the place whence the type series of G. javanicus had come.

The fact that the species of Glyphiulus are mostly highly local in distribution deserves attention. This can often be accounted for by their being troglobites, naturally restricted to one single cave or a limited group of caves. However, the impression that the majority of the species are scarcely more than troglophiles suggests that a wealthy, barely sampled fauna also exists epigeically. This undersampling is due to the fact that most of the expeditions to these often remote and poorly accessible places have been speleological, concentrating on the “mystique” of the underground world, thus giving the biased impression that cambalopsids in general, and Glyphiulus species in particular, are especially common in caves. Above-ground explorations will certainly reveal a far richer fauna of forest-dwelling species in the region. Summarising the poor state of current knowledge, we have still only touched the tip of the iceberg ( Golovatch et al. 2007).