Balkanopetalum graecum, Stoev & Enghoff, 2003

Stoev, Pavel & Enghoff, Henrik, 2003, Systematics, phylogeny and biogeography of genus Balkanopetalum Verhoeff, 1926 (Diplopoda: Callipodida: Schizopetalidae), Zootaxa 272 (1), pp. 1-26 : 17-18

Balkanopetalum graecum sp. n.

Figs 16­19 .

Material examined (all from Greece): Holotype: adult M; 54 pleurotergites, length ca. 67 mm, width ca. 4 mm; NMNH­Sofia, Callipodida collection; Northern Greece, Rhodopi Mts. , Xanthi District , Pachni Village, Dupkata Cave, 680 m alt., 25.09.2000, B. Petrov, P. Stoev, S. Beshkov leg. — Paratypes: 4 FF, 1 juv. (2 FF, ZMUC), Rhodopi Mts. , Xanthi District , Pachni Village, Dupkata Cave, 680 m alt., 25.09.2000, B. Petrov, P. Stoev, S. Beshkov leg. ; same village, small cave near the road, below Dupkata Cave , 600 m alt., 25.09.2000, P. Stoev, B. Petrov, S. Beshkov leg. ; 1 M, 1F, juv., Rhodopi Mts. , Potami Village , Valley of Despatis River, Peristerones Cave, clay, guano, 21.09.2000, B. Petrov, P. Stoev, S. Beshkov leg.

Etymology. Self­evident.

Description. Length: 67 mm., 53­55 pleurotergites. Width ca. 4 mm. General body colouration pale brown. Head pale brown­grayish. Prozonites beginning from midbody and backward grayish.

Head concavity in males hairless; several bristles between the concavity and the labrum. Antennae long: reaching back to 9th pleurotergite. Antennomere one pale brownish; two­five dark brown, 6­8 snow­white.

Ocellaria composed of 38 black ocelli.

Collum: pale yellow­brownish, speckled with irregular spots. Posterior part of it is dark brown.

Chaetotaxy, see Table 6 .

Dorsal crests well separated from each other along their length, not finger­like as in congeners; all with prominent, sharpened ridge.

Male gonopods: anterior coxal process divided into two small teeth. Posterior coxal process long, apically with a hook curving posteriad, i.e., in opposite direction of the femoroid. Main stem of the femoroid heavily enlarged forming a shield around the solenomerite. Ovoid plate short, evenly rounded, as long as a third of the femoroidal length. A well developed, black coloured and evenly rounded distal process. Back side of distal process with a sharp tooth ( Fig. 18 ). Solenomerite trifid ( Figs. 16, 17, 18 ). Prefemur of male 7th leg­pair slightly swollen, bigger than that in petrovi and more elongate than in the other species ( Fig. 19 ).

Notes. So far, B. graecum has been found in two karst regions, along the Mesta (Nestos) River. The cave fauna of that region of NE Greece is very weakly explored. At present the two populations of graecum are disjunct by about 70 km in a straight airline. In Dupkata Cave, the new species coexists with Eupolybothrus transsylvanicus (Latzel, 1882) (Chilopoda) .

Figures

FIGURES 16­19. Balkanopetalum graecum sp.n. Figs. 16­17. Male gonopods, mesal (Fig. 16) and lateral (Fig. 17) views. Cx ­ Coxa; ACxPr ­ Anterior coxal process; PCxPr ­ Posterior coxal process; Fe ­ Femoroid; DPr ­ Distal process; OP ­ Ovoid plate; ST ­ Solenomerite; SG ­ Seminal groove. Fig. 18. Apical part of the gonopod (solenomerite and the distal process). DPr ­ Distal process; T­ Tooth; ST ­ Solenomerite; SG ­ Seminal groove. Fig. 19. Coxa, trochanter, prefemur and femur of male 7th leg­pair. Cx ­ Coxa; Tr ­ Trochanter; PFe ­ Prefemur; Fe ­ Femur.