Geniculodesmus inexpectatus ( Attems, 1944 ) Chen & Golovatch & Chang, 2008

Chen, Chao-Chun, Golovatch, Sergei I. & Chang, Hseuh-Wen, 2008, Identity of the east Asian millipede Habrodesmus inexpectatus Attems, 1944 (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae), Journal of Natural History 42 (39 - 40), pp. 2547-2556 : 2548-2555

Geniculodesmus inexpectatus ( Attems, 1944) , n. comb.

( Figures 1–23 )

Habrodesmus inexpectatus Attems, 1944:242

‘‘ Habrodesmus ’’ inexpectatus Jeekel 1968:77 ; Korsós 2004:26

Type material

Two males, two females ( NHMW 3595 ), Japan, Takao , 4 Aug. 1907, leg. H. Sauter.

Among these syntypes, one male is selected herewith as lectotype, whereas the remaining specimens are designated as paralectotypes. Lectotype selection is necessary both to fix properly the type locality in Japan (Mt. Takao, Hachioujishi , Tokyo Prefecture) and to ensure the lectotype being a male, because nearly all modern diplopod systematics is based on the male genitalic structure.

Other material

Ten males, 29 females ( NSYSUB-DI 82–121 ), Taiwan (ROC), Kaohsiung City, ShouShan (5 Mt. Shou), National Sun Yat-Sen University campus, 20–32 m a.s.l., 23 June 1998, leg. H.W. Chang ; 13 males, 8 females ( NSYSUB-DI 430–450 ) , 5 males, 5 females ( Zoological Museum , Moscow, Russia), same locality, 10 Aug. 2004, leg. C.-C. Chen ; one male ( Hungarian Natural History Museum ( HNHM), Budapest, Hungary), pitfall traps, 2004, leg. S.H. Wu ; one male, one female (NMNS-004920-00049),

Kaohsiung City, Shoushan Park, 22 ° 379420N, 120 ° 169110E, 107 m a.s.l., 19 May 2005, leg. Z. Korsós and C.Y. Huang.

Description

Length ca 24–25 mm (male, n 53) and 25–31 mm (female, n 53); width of mid-body metazona 2.0–2.2 mm (male) and 2.7–3.0 mm (female). Lectotype ca 22 mm long and 2.0 mm wide.

Coloration in alcohol dark brown; a narrow to wide, lighter brown to brown, axial stripe on metaterga down to tip of epiproct or to anterior edge of telson; sides of segment light cream; pleurotergal region lighter to darker brown, pleurosternal region of prozona light brown, of metazona light to darker brown; sterna and legs lighter brown, sometimes tarsi pale brown, sometimes distal half of tarsi relatively slightly darker brown. Coloration of female usually lighter, colour pattern same as in male, but distal half of tarsi never darker brown.

Postcollar constriction rather faint, width of head52–4,collum, 5–16 in male, but head,collum52–4,5–15, or head,collum52,354, 5–16 in female; further toward telson trunk gradually and gently tapering both in width and height. Antennae relatively short, clavate, reaching end of segment 2 dorsally in male ( Figures 1 and 13 ), a little shorter in female, only reaching end of collum to midway of segment 2. Paraterga poorly developed ( Figures 1–3 , 13–14 and 16 ), calluses always delimited by a sulcus dorsally, but ventrally only on pore-bearing segments, like low ridges (poreless segments) or flat discs (pore-bearing segments), slightly surpassing caudal tergal contour only on segment 2; paraterga 2 with an unusually broad lobe extended anteriorly ( Figures 1 and 13 ). Axial line traceable at places, usually present. Transverse sulcus on segments 5–18, slightly deeper in male, lineshaped, evident, deep, finely beaded at bottom, not reaching base of paraterga ( Figures 2–3 , 14 and 16 ). Surface shiny and rather smooth, at places rugulose, region above paraterga 2–4 evidently rugulose longitudinally ( Figure 1 ), below paraterga 2– 19 rugulose, below paraterga 2–4 also evidently granulose. Limbus narrow, caudal margin entire. Stricture between pro- and metaterga evidently but not very strongly beaded, deep, general appearance of body hence submoniliform; stricture slightly deeper in male. Tergal setae mostly abraded, only sometimes 3+1 short setae retained anteriorly on collum in male, sometimes 1+ 1 in female, missing on other terga. Ozopores lateral, lying on callus ca 1/3 metatergal length off caudal edge ( Figures 2, 10 and 16 ). Pleurosternal carinae poorly developed, reduced in female, relatively evident on segments 2–7 (male) or on segments 2–3(4) (female), like narrow ridges on segments 2–4 in both sexes, like low bosses on segments 5–7 (male), onward increasingly poorly developed, poorly traceable until segments 9–15 in male ( Figures 1–2 , 13–14 ), or until segments 5–15 in female, further back virtually missing. Epiproct digitiform, flattened dorsoventrally, in lateral view short, ratio of epiproct length to pre-epiproct length of telson 1:4.7 in male, slightly shorter in female, in dorsal view subtruncate, slightly emarginate; pre-apical papillae evident, close to apex ( Figures 4 and 17 ). Hypoproct semi-circular to subtriangular, more or less broadly rounded caudally ( Figures 5 and 18 ), 1+1 setae at caudal corners on knobs, considerably separated, sides sometimes slightly concave but mostly convex.

Sterna modestly setose in male, sparsely so in female, not modified except for a prominent, linguiform, setose lamina with a small and very thin membrane at tip between male coxae 4 ( Figures 6 and 19 ); each cross-impression with an evident transverse sulcus and a well-developed, deep axial groove.

Male legs 1 to those of segment 17 with tarsal brushes ( Figures 7 and 15 ), onward tarsal setation gradually thinning out. Legs relatively short, slightly longer than midbody height in male ( Figures 2 and 14 ), but shorter than mid-body height in female.

Gonopods ( Figures 8–11 , 20–23 ) rather complex, strongly elongate. Coxite elongate, subcylindrical, heavily setose distoventrally; cannula normal. Prefemoral part short, as usual densely setose; femorite (fe) slightly curved, at least three times longer than prefemur, subequal in width along its extent, with a clear oblique sulcus (sul) on ventral face; solenophore (sph) very long, about as long as fe, coiled, characteristically lobulated (labeled A, B and C) apically, with a subtriangular process (pr) at base and a remarkable knee to make sph shift first laterobasad and then, at about midway, mesad; seminal groove (sg) running mesally all along femorite, but solenomere (sl) starting just at base of sph on dorsal face, flagelliform, long, about as long as and nearly completely supported/sheathed by sph. Both lamina lateralis and lamina medialis of sph evident, former lying chiefly ventrally, latter dorsally.

Remarks

The distribution of G. inexpectatus in Taiwan obviously being restricted to manmade habitats (a university campus and a city park), anthropochorism seems very likely. Unfortunately, no habitat information whatever is available for the type material from Japan.

Figures

Figures 1–11. Geniculodesmus inexpectatus (Attems, 1944), male from National Sun Yat-Sen University campus. (1) Anterior body portion, lateral view; (2) Segment 10, lateral view; (3) Left half of metatergum 10, dorsal view; (4) Epiproct, dorsal view; (5) Hypoproct, ventral view; (6) Sternal lamina between coxae 4, ventral view; (7) Anterior legpair of segment 10. (8–11) Right gonopod: (8) lateral; (9) medial; (10) ventral; and (11) dorsal view. Notes: fe, femorite; sg, seminal groove; pr, process at the base of the solenophore; sl, solenomere; sph, solenophore; A, B and C, apical lobes of solenophore; sul, a clear oblique sulcus on ventral face of femorite. Scale bars: (1–3) 1.0 mm; (4–7) 0.5 mm; (8–11) 0.25 mm.

Figures 12–19. Geniculodesmus inexpectatus (Attems, 1944), from the campus of National Sun Yat-Sen University. (12) Entire body, dorsal view; (13) Anterior body portion, lateral view, arrow pointing to the unusually broad lobe of paraterga 2; (14) segment 10 (s 10), lateral view; (15) Tarsal brushes of left legs of segment 10; (16) Segment 10, dorsal view; (17) Epiproct, dorsal view; (18) Hypoproct, ventral view; (19) Sternal lamina between coxae 4, ventral view. Note: scale bars: (12) 5.0 mm; (13–16) 1 mm; (17, 19) 0.5 mm; (18) 0.2 mm.

Figures 20–23. Geniculodesmus inexpectatus (Attems, 1944), right gonopod of male from the campus of National Sun Yat-Sen University. (20) ventral; (21) ventral; (22) medial; (23) subdorsal view. Scale bars: (20, 22) 250Mm; (21, 23) 100 Mm.