Cryptops (Trichocryptops) brachyraphe Attems, 1934

Lewis, John G. E., 2016, On the Cryptops subgenus Trichocryptops Verhoeff, 1937, with a discussion of the problems of differentiating Cryptops species (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Cryptopidae), Zootaxa 4139 (4), pp. 575-584 : 577-579

Cryptops (Trichocryptops) brachyraphe Attems, 1934

( Figs 7 – 13)

C. brachyraphe Attems, 1934: 52 , figs 8 – 12. Sulawesi. C. brachyraphe: Verhoeff, 1937: 223 .

C. (T.) brachyraphe: Würmli, 1972: 100 .

Material examined. NMB. C. brachyraphe Att. Celebes [Sulawesi], Masarang. Basel Mus. [und Soputan, Drs. P. u. F. Sarasin coll.]. Spm 1 approx. 15 mm. A loose ultimate leg in microvial. A second macerated specimen in two halves lacking head and legs, length approximately 23 mm.

Diagnosis. Length 20 – 23 mm. Cephalic plate without sutures. Anterior margin of forcipular coxosternite weakly bilobed with 4+4 fine submarginal setae. Tergites with median keel and incomplete paramedian sutures in truncated paramedian sulci. Sternites strongly punctate, cruciform sulci with the transverse sulcus narrow, the longitudinal wide and truncated. Posterior margin of sternite of ultimate leg-bearing segment straight with rounded corners. Pore-field with 12–25 pores occupying anterior 60–65% of coxopleuron. Ultimate legs with 1+7 – 9+4 saw teeth. Ultimate leg prefemur and femur with fine setae, slightly thicker on lateral, ventral and medial surfaces than on dorsal surface. Prefemur with a narrow longitudinal medial glabrous area. Tarsi of legs 1 – 19 undivided, accessory spines short, about 18% the length of the pretarsus.

Description (Attems’ (1934) data in parentheses). Colour greyish yellow (chitin yellow) with some faint median and lateral subcuticular pigmentation on tergites 2 and 3 in spm 1 ( Fig. 7). Length 23 mm (20 mm). The basal two antennal articles with scattered long setae, article 3 with long and short, 4 and subsequent with dense short and a basal whorl of long setae. Cephalic plate without sutures, the posterior margin overlapped by T1. Anterior margin of forcipular coxosternite bilobed with 4+4 fine submarginal setae ( Fig. 8).

Tergites punctate, from mid trunk with a median keel and incomplete paramedian sutures in posteriorly widened sulci on anterior half of tergites. The precise extent of sutures and sulci difficult to determine. A median keel demarcated by two shallow longitudinal sulci. Lateral crescentic sulci from TT3 – 19. Tergite of ultimate legbearing segment with triangular posterior margin, no median posterior depression. Sternites strongly punctate. Cruciform sulci (on 2 – 17), the transverse sulcus narrow, almost reaching the sternite margins, the longitudinal wide and truncated. Attems’ Fig. 10 shows posterior margin of sternite of ultimate leg-bearing straight with rounded corners (sternite broad, only slightly attenuated).

Coxopleural pore-field occupying anterior 60% of coxopleuron, 65% in spm 2 with about 12 pores in spm 1 (about 25). Posterior edge of coxopleuron with 3 setae and 2 in pore-free strip, none seen in pore-field (with isolated bristles) ( Fig. 9).

Ultimate leg prefemur ( Fig. 10) with fine setae, some very long, and with thicker setae ( Fig. 11) on lateral, ventral and medial surfaces and a narrow longitudinal medial glabrous area. Femur with long fine setae dorsally and dorsolaterally, setae on other surfaces a little thicker. Tibia and tarsi with long fine setae ( Figs 12 & 13). Saw teeth 1+7 – 9+4.

Legs 1 – 19 finely setose, with undivided tarsi. Accessory spines short, about 18% the length of the pretarsus. Leg 20 without dense setae ventrally (dense short fine setae ventrally on prefemur, femur and tibia).

Remarks. Attems (1934) placed C. brachyraphe in the subgenus Cryptops but. Verhoeff (1937) suggested that it was probably a Trichocryptops closely related to C. malaccanus , differing in the shape of the anterior margin of the forcipular coxosternite and the shape of the ultimate tergite. Würmli (1972) examined a series of specimens of Cryptops brachyraphe and assigned it to Trichocryptops. Cryptops brachyraphe is very similar to C. iucundus but the two are here retained as separate species.