Aphistogoniulus manombo sp. nov.

Figs 3A–D, 4A–D

Material examined. 1 M holotype, CASTYPE 21623, Province Fianarantsoa, 24.5 km SW of Farafangana, Réserve Speciale Manombo, rainforest, 30 m, 23°00’57’’ S, 47°43’08’’ E, Brian L. Fisher et al., general collecting, 20.iv.2006. 1 M, 2 F paratypes, CASENT 9032822, same data as holotype .

DNA barcode: HQ891232

Derivatio nominis. manombo, noun in apposition, after the type locality.

Diagnosis. Posterior gonopod of unique special shape, with a sharp-edged basal branch and an apico-mesal fringe at main branch, identifying A. manombo sp. nov. as a member of the diabolicus -clade, in which it also groups based on the phylogeny of the COI barcoding gene (Fig. 12). A manombo sp. nov. closely resembles A. jeekeli (Decker & Wesener, 2011 in Wesener et al. 2011), of which it was described originally as a subpopulation. The two species differ in colour (collum black except posterior margin versus red in A. jeekeli), a different number of body rings (50–54 versus 57 or 58 in A. jeekeli), as well as the gonopods. In A. manombo sp. nov. the main branch of posterior gonopod at its apex forming a long flat plateau like a waiter holding a tablet (Figs 4C, D), while the apex is folded, almost touching the basal branch in A. jeekeli . A. manombo sp. nov. differs from A. jeekeli in a p-distance of the COI barcoding fragment of 11.3 %

Description

Measurements. Males 53 or 54 body rings, circa 110 mm long, 9 mm wide. Females 50 body rings, circa 105 mm long, 8 mm wide.

Colour of head, antenna, legs and telson bright red (Fig. 3A–D). Mesozonites of body rings dorsally red, ventrally black up to ozopore level. Dorsally, posterior half of metazonite black, anterior half red. Black colour spreading through full metazonite dorsally, creating an interrupted black stripe (Fig. 3A, B).

Head typical for the genus. Antenna short, extending back to ring 3 (Fig. 3A, B, D).

Ozopore starting at ring 6, located on suture between meso- and metazonite.

Anterior gonopod sternite triangular, no shoulders, sharp tip (Fig. 4A). Coxite process elongated, as long as or slightly longer than telopodite (Fig. 4A, B). Telopodite appendage swollen, sharp-edged retrorse process starting to project medially.

Posterior gonopod telopodite branches forming an ‘O’ (Fig. 4C). Tips of main and basal branch close to but not touching one another. Main branch at mesal margin and apically with membranous folds, tip forming a long flat plateau like a waiter holding a tablet (Fig. 4D). Main branch slenderer and shorter than basal branch. Basal branch along its length of equal width, but tapering into sharp apex (Fig. 4C, D); mesally with rectangular lobe (Fig. 4D).

Ecology. A. manombo sp. nov. occurs in sympatry with a microendemic, gigantic species of giant pill-millipede of the genus Sphaeromimus de Saussure & Zehntner, 1902, S. titanus Wesener, 2014 (Wesener et al. 2014), highlighting the only recently protected area of Manombo as a center of millipede endemism.