Paracortina zhangi Liu & Tian, 2015

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

Paracortina zhangi Liu & Tian, 2015

Fig. 28

Paracortina zhangi Liu & Tian, 2015: 125, figs 1-22.

Diagnosis.

Most similar to Paracortina yinae , from which it differs only in the absence of the spiniform process on the mesal side of coxa 6, different shape of coxa 7 ( Liu and Tian 2015).

Descriptive notes.

(based on Liu and Tian 2015) Species with 55-58 PTs +telson, general colour pale brownish yellow, head with a well protruding beak-shaped projection, ommatidia: 16-23 in four irregular rows.

Male sexual characters.

Head with a large beak-shaped projection on vertex ( Liu and Tian 2015: figs 1, 2), PT6 strongly enlarged, leg-pair1 and 2 reduced and more setose than the rest, leg-pair 2 with a small anterior process and posterior opening of the gonopores, leg-pair 6 with no modifications on coxa, leg-pair 7 with a protruding mesal triangular process and a very large subtriangular-rounded projection on coxa ( Liu and Tian 2015: fig. 8), coxal sacs noticeable from leg-pairs 3-23.

Gonopods. Parallel, with a general slender aspect. Each gonopod with one clavate, slender, setose prefemoroidal process (pf1), coxa with an anterior lobe and a short falcate mesal process (b), not reaching mid-length of the telopodite (T). Telopodite broad at the base and gently narrowing distad, distal part dark with a transparent lamella (seen in lateral view; Liu and Tian 2015: fig. 9) extending in an apical fold, and laterally in a second one circling in part of the thin bifurcated branch terminating in solenomere (s) and parasolenomere (ps).

Distribution.

Cave Qiaoxia Dong 24°03.008'N, Rongdu Village, Qianxinan Zizhizhou, Ceheng County, Guizhou, southern China. The coordinates in Liu and Tian (2015) include a typo (24°03.008'N instead of 25°03.008'N), rendering the type locality appearing 100 km south of their locality description and map. In the distribution map (Fig. 28 ), we used the corrected coordinates.

Comments.

The interpretation of the distal part of the telopodite remains tentative and rendered difficult as it is entirely based on the original description of the leg-pair 7 and gonopods ( Liu and Tian 2015: figs 8-10, 15-18).

Figures

Figure 28. Distribution map of Paracortinidae in China and Vietnam.