Diversity and biogeography of Israeli geophilomorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha)
Author
Chipman, Ariel D.
Author
Dor, Neta
Author
Bonato, Lucio
text
Zootaxa
2013
3652
2
232
248
journal article
43553
10.11646/zootaxa.3652.2.2
0d490ce9-0872-4a4a-8721-ca1a10de1879
1175-5326
219927
B721A1E5-707A-476F-A3E7-E1B0D9559706
Clinopodes escherichii
(Verhoeff, 1896)
Published records: “Chuldah bei Jaffa” [Hulda, near Jaffa] (Verhoeff 1925, sub
Geophilus flavidus noduliger
); “’Ein Hemed (Aqua Bella)”, “’Ein Ya’el”, ”Nes Harim” (Zapparoli 1995, sub
C. flavidus
).
New records: Hermon, Emek Bol’an (
6 specimens
2012); Hermon, Emek HaMan (
1 specimen
2012); Khirbet Saida (
1 specimen
1964); Mt. Qadarim (
1 specimen
2011); Nahal Oren (
1 specimen
2011).
Distribution in
Israel
: most specimens are from cool high altitude Mediterranean sites such as the upper Galilee, Hermon and Jerusalem mountains, with average temperatures in the range 16–22˚C and annual precipitation between
450–1250 mm
. The only exception is a published record from Hulda (Verhoeff 1925) (
Figure 3
A).
Global distribution: the species is widespread from the Carpathians and the Balkan Peninsula, through regions around the Black Sea, to
Anatolia
and
Israel
.
Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes. According to the preliminary reassessment of the entire genus
Clinopodes
Koch, 1847
by Bonato
et al.
(2011), the specimens examined by us agree in morphology with
C. escherichii
and not with
C. verhoeffi
Bonato, Iorio & Minelli, 2011
, which was described from
Israel
(see below). The two species differ mainly in the extent of the sternal pore-fields on the posterior leg-bearing segments and the pattern of the coxal pores.
Geophilus flavidus noduliger
Verhoeff, 1925
is recognized here as a junior synonym of
Clinopodes escherichii
Verhoeff 1896
(
new syn
.). After examining the
holotype
of
G. flavidus noduliger
from Hulda (preserved in the Zoologische Staatsammlung München) and comparing it with specimens of
C. escherichii
from
Israel
and
Turkey
(Bonato
et al.
2011), we found that
G. flavidus noduliger
matches fully with
C. escherichii
even in the characters that are considered of diagnostic value between species in the genus
Clinopodes
(including the relative size of the marginal denticles on the forcipular coxosternite, the extent of chitin-lines, the number of legs, the relative extent of the pore-fields on the most posterior trunk segments, the arrangement of the coxal organs). Published records of
C. flavidus
from
Israel
(Zapparoli 1995) are reinterpreted as most probably referring to
C. escherichii
instead of
C. verhoeffi
, on the basis of the number of trunk segments.