Macrosternodesmus palicola Brölemann, 1908

Gilgado, José D., 2020, Hidden in plain sight: six millipede species (Myriapoda: Diplopoda) new for the fauna of Switzerland, Revue suisse de Zoologie 127 (2), pp. 249-259 : 255

Macrosternodesmus palicola Brölemann, 1908

Fig. 6

Macrosternodesmus palicola Brölemann, 1908 .

Titanosoma jurassicum Verhoeff, 1910 .

Material examined: NMB- 703a; 1 male; Switzerland, Basel-Stadt, private garden , 47°33′40.182″N, 7°34′42.937″E, 270 m; 31.05.2018; J. D. Gilgado et al. leg.; active capture . – NMB- 703b; 1 female; same data but 07.06.2018 . – NMB- 703c; 1 female; Switzerland, Basel-Landschaft, Binningen , private garden , 47°32′01.31″N, 7°34′52.79″E, 345 m; 01.06.2018; J. D. Gilgado et al. leg.; active capture.

Distribution: France, Belgium, British Isles, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden ( Kime & Enghoff, 2011; Tajovský & Tuf, 2016).

Remarks: This is a very small millipedes species, only up to 4 mm long ( Blower, 1985). According to Kime & Enghoff (2011) this species has an Atlantic distribution and may be originally native to deciduous woodlands (mostly Fagus forests) on calcareous soils. However, nowadays most records of this species are from humanmade biotopes.

Figures

Fig. 6. Macrosternodesmus palicola Brölemann, 1908. (A) Adult female from Binningen (NMB-703c). Scale bar 1 mm. (B) Gonopods of male (NMB-703a) from Basel in ventral view. Scale bar 0.1 mm.Abbreviations: pf, prefemoral part of telopodite; t, telopodite; tt, tip of telopodite; s, solenomerite; sl, subrectangular lamella.