Lithobius anderssoni

Simaiakis, Stylianos Michail, Zapparoli, Marzio, Minelli, Alessandro & Bonato, Lucio, 2013, The centipede fauna (Chilopoda) of the island of Cyprus, with one new lithobiomorph species, Zootaxa 3647 (2), pp. 279-306 : 284-288

* Lithobius ( Lithobius ?) anderssoni Zapparoli & Simaiakis n. sp.

Diagnosis. A medium-sized Lithobius (15.0 mm long), antennae approx. 53% length of body, composed of 22 articles; 1 + 7–8 ocelli, arranged in 2–3 rows; anterior margin of forcipular coxosternite with 5+5 irregular teeth, without shoulders, porodont setiform, placed medial to the outer tooth; TT 9, 11 and 13 without posterior triangular projections; tergites almost setose; coxal pores 5–6 round to ovoid; VaC absent; female gonopods with 2+2 with two cylindro-conical spurs, apical claw tridentate.

Type locality. Cyprus, Paphos distr., 1 km E of Letimbou.

Type series. Holotype: Ƥ, Cyprus, 1 km E of Letimbou, loc. 126, 9.V.1981, H. W. Waldén leg.; female gonopods dissected and mounted on a slide (Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museet).

Description of holotype. Length: body approx. 15.0 mm long; head 1.6 mm long, 2.0 mm wide; 2.3 mm broad at T 10; legs 14 and 15 missing.

Colour (in alcool after 31 years from collection): generally yellow; cephalic plate, forcipular coxosternite and T 1 slightly darker.

Cephalic plate: wrinkled and almost setose dorsally, broader than long, as broad as T 1; lateral margins almost rounded; posterior margin slightly sinuated; lateral marginal interruption slightly distinct; marginal ridge with a distinct median thickening.

Ocelli: 1+4,3 (right side), 1+4,3,2 (left side), slightly pigmented, subcircular, contiguous and almost of the same size, arranged in two-three rows, posterosuperior ocellus as large as the secondary ocelli ( Fig. 4 ).

Tömösváry’s organ: oval, almost of the size of a secondary ocellus, situated below the inferior row of ocelli and close of these (see Fig. 4 ).

Antennae: approx. 8.0 mm long, reaching T 7 when folded backwards, approx. 53% length of body, composed of 22 articles (both left and right side); basal two articles almost as long as broad, other articles two or two time and half as long as broad; ultimate article as long as the penultimate; articles densely covered with setae.

Clypeus: with a group of 2 long apical setae and 4–6 short to medium-size subapical setae on each side, 5–7 short setae along the lateral margins.

Forcipular segment: coxosternite subhexagonal, anterior margin wide ( Fig. 5 ); coxosternal teeth conical, of unequal size and spacing, 5+5, a smaller tooth in central position between the two outer and the two inner teeth (left side) (see Fig. 5 ); apex of teeth slightly pointed; median diastema narrow, almost deep, V-shaped; free margin of coxosternite sloping without forming a shoulder; porodont setiform placed medial to the outer tooth; base of porodont distinct; medium to short setae sparse on the anterior part of the ventral surface of the coxosternite (see Fig. 5 ); trochanteroprefemur medially incavated at its posterior part, the area of incavation is covered with 4–5 medium to long setae, short to long sparse thinner setae on the rest of the surface; femur and tibia with a row of medium to long setae arranged along the median line of the article; proximal part of tarsungulum fringed with medium to long sparse setae on the ventral surface, distal part of tarsungulum about 2.5 times as long as the proximal part, devoid of setae.

Tergites: very wrinkled and densely setose especially near the margins ( Fig. 6 ); T 1 almost trapeziform, almost as broad as T 3, lateral margins convergent posteriorly, posterior angles rounded, posterior margin slightly sinuated; TT 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12 subrectangular, transverse (broader than long), especially T 7 (see Fig. 6 ); lateral margins of TT 3, 5, 7 subparallel, TT 8, 10, 12 slightly convergent posteriorly, T 14 convergent posteriorly; posterior angles of TT 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14 rounded, T 7 angulated (see Fig. 6 ); posterior margin of TT 3, 5, 8 slightly sinuated, TT 10, 12 sinuated, T 7 straight, T 14 straight; lateral margins of TT 2, 4, 6 subparallel, posterior angles angulated or blunt, posterior margin straight; posterior angles of TT 9, 11 and 13 angulated and without triangular projections; intermediate tergite elongated, lateral margins convex, subparallel in the posterior, posterior margin slightly concave, posterior angles rounded (see Fig. 6 ).

Sternites: smooth, subtrapeziform, posterior side narrower than the anterior one, posterior margins almost straight; setation absent or rare.

Legs: tarsal articulation defined on legs 1–13; legs 14 and 15 missing; leg 13 slightly longer than 1–12; pretarsus of legs 1–13 with a slightly curved, long, principal claw (0.15 mm on leg 8) and smaller and thinner anterior and posterior accessory spines, anterior accessory spine long and slender, length about one third of the principal claw, the posterior one slightly strong, about 0.4 times the length of the principal claw; the angle that both spines form with the pretarsus is wider posteriorly than anteriorly; abundant glandular pores on the inner surface of prefemur, femur, tibia and tarsus of legs 13; short to comparatively long setae scattered very sparsely over the surface of all podomeres of all legs; tarsus 1 and tarsus 2 of legs 1–13 with combs of setae, almost regularly arranged in two rows of 12–16 setae each.

Plectrotaxy: as in Table 1.

TABLE 1. Lithobius anderssoni n. sp. (holotype): plectrotaxy; spines in brackets are asymmetrical; 14th and 15th legs are missing, spines with asterisk are presumptive.

Coxal pores: 5,6,6,5 on both the left and right sides, arranged in a single regular row; the two proximal ones are almost circular in shape and separated from each other by their own diameter or less; the distal pores are almost elliptical and spaced from each other by their own main diameter or more; coxal pore field set in a relatively shallow groove fringed at its margin with 8–13 medium to long regularly arranged setae.

Female S 15 posterolaterally narrower than anterolaterally, trapeziform, posterior margin straight; 45 short to long setae scattered sparsely over its surface and lateral margins.

Female first genital sternite wider than long, with approx. 42–44 evenly scattered setae on each side; posterior margin with a short posterior truncate expansion between the condyles of gonopods.

Female gonopods: first article fairly broad, bearing 16 long to medium sized setae arranged in three irregular rows, 2+2 cylindro-conical spurs, very close to each other, the internal spur of the right gonopod smaller and shorter than the external one ( Figs 7, 8 ), left gonopod with spurs both of the same size, two short dorsomedian setae immediately proximal to the insertion of the spurs; second article with 12 short to long setae, arranged in two irregular rows on its ventral side, five dorsolateral setae on a line; terminal claw tridentate, medial denticle well developed, lateral denticles also well developed and both of the same size, four short to medium setae situated at the base of the claw; three short dorsolateral setae on a line; dorsolateral and dorsomedial setae somewhat stouter than the general setae (see right gonopod in Figs 7, 8 ).

Variation. The other adult specimens examined differ from the holotype in the following characters. Length: 1.8–1.9 mm broad at T 10; legs 14 and 15 approx 5.0 mm and 6.0 mm long, respectively. Colour: generally light brown. Ocelli: 1+4,3,2, 1+4,2,3, 1+3,3,2, 1+3,2,3. Antennae: approx. 6.0 mm long, reaching the T 5 when folded backwards, composed of 20–22 articles. Forcipular segment: coxosternal teeth 5+3, 5+6; porodont setiform generally placed medial to the outer 1–2 teeth, rarely lateral. Plectrotaxy: as in Table 2 (here we state the presence/ absence of the accessory apical claw on pretarsus of leg 15 and plectrotaxy of legs since both 14 and 15 legs are missing in holotype). Coxal pores: 4,5,6,4; 4,6,6,4. Female first genital sternite, with 25–30 scattered setae on each side. Female gonopods: with 2+2 cylindro-conical spurs, both approx of the same size.

Etymology. Named in honour of Göran Andersson, Director of the Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museum,, who allowed us to study the material collected by H.W. Waldén.

Material examined: 9 3, 6 ƤƤ.

Sites: 54, 122, 152, 164 ( Fig. 3 ).

General distribution. West Asia: Cyprus.

Chorotype. Cypriot endemic.

Habitats. Formations with shrubs, mixed forest with Pinus , Quercus and Acer .

Altitudinal range: 170–1100 m.

Remarks. L. anderssoni belongs to a group of species including L. elegans Sseliwanoff, 1880 , L. stuxbergii Sseliwanoff, 1880 , L. liber Lignau, 1903 , L. colchicus Muralevich, 1907 , L. cilicius Verhoeff, 1925 , L. foviceps Muralevitch, 1926 , L. striatus Muralevitch, 1926 (incl. the subspecies L. striatus monosulcatus Folkmanova, 1958 ), L. rufus Muralewitch, 1926 , L. armenicus (Muralevitch, 1926) , L. fasciatus Muralevitch, 1929 , L. phanetus (Chamberlin, 1952) , and L. reconditus Zalesskaja, 1972 . This group ranges in an area including Crimea, Caucasus, Turkish and Iranian Armenia, Taurus and probably deserves to be recognized as a distinct subgenus of Lithobius Leach, 1814 (Zapparoli 1999) .

The above mentioned species or subspecies share the following main morphological characters: mature specimen body mainly 15–20 mm long but sometimes larger (up to 23 mm); antennae mainly of 20 elongate articles (sometimes 18 or 22); coxosternite mainly with 4+4-5+5 teeth (but 2+2 teeth are also present, as in L. rufus and in L. colchicus ); 15–25 ocelli arranged in three or four irregular rows (but in L. anderssoni the number of ocelli is lower 7–10); triangular projection on the posterior angles of TT 11 and 13 and, sometimes, also in TT 6, 7 and 9; these projections are however absent in some taxa ( L. cilicius , L. stuxbergii ); tarsal articulation of legs 1–15 present; 4–10 uniseriate coxal pores, circular, oval or elliptical; leg 15 elongate, with or without accessory apical claw, male tibia 15 dorsally flattened; rich plectrotaxy, VaC absent, DaC present on leg 12 (sometimes), 13 (sometimes), 14 and 15; female gonopod with 2+2 spurs and claw with a more or less evident lateral denticle on both sides.

The present taxonomical arrangement of the group elegans mentioned above is however very unsatisfactory and needs a revision. Some critical notes have been published only by Zalesskaja (1978), who synonimized L. vehemens Lignau, 1903 with L. stuxbergii , and by Zapparoli (1999), who proposed L. phanetus and L. cilicius Verhoeff, 1925 as identical with L. liber . After a reexamination of the type material (Zapparoli, unpublished), L.

cilicius has to be re-evaluated as a good species. Among the species of the elegans group, Lithobius anderssoni n. sp. is morphologically closely related to L. cilicius , ranging in southwestern Turkey. The diagnostic characters of the two species are summarized in Table 3 .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Hessebius barbipes and Lithobius anderssoni, distribution in Cyprus.

FIGURES 4 – 8. Lithobius anderssoni n. sp., holotype, Ƥ, Cyprus, 1 km E of Letimbou, loc. 126, 9. V. 1981, H. W. Waldén leg. (GNM): Figure 4, left ocelli and Tömösváry’s organ, scale bar 0.2 mm; Figure 5, anterior margin of forcipular coxosternite, scale bar 0.2 mm; Figure 6, TT 4 – 8, scale bar 1 mm; Figure 7, right female gonopod, ventral view, scale bar 0.1 mm; Figure 8, right female gonopod, dorsal view, scale bar 0.1 mm.

Tables

TABLE 2. Lithobius anderssoni n. sp. (FC 0 0 52, Cyprus, Limassol, Kantou, 2 km north on the road to Sotira, 170 m, 11.3. 2012, 2 Ƥ, S. Simiakis leg): plectrotaxy; variable spines are in brackets.

Ventral					Dorsal
C	t	P	F	Ti	C t	P	F	Ti
1 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	mp	a p	a
2 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
3 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
4 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
5 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
6 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
7 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
8 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
9 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
10 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
11 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
12 -	-	mp	amp	am	- -	amp	a p	a p
13 -	m	amp	amp	am	a -	amp	p	(a)p
14 -	m	amp	amp	(a)m	a -	amp	p	p
15 -	m	amp	am	-	a -	amp	p	-