Pandirodesmus Silvestri, 1932

Vandenspiegel, Didier, Golovatch, Sergei I. & Rutherford, Mike G., 2022, The millipede genus Pandirodesmus Silvestri, 1932 in Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean, with the description of P. jaggernauthi sp. nov. from Trinidad (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Chelodesmidae, Pandirodesmini), Zootaxa 5104 (4), pp. 567-576 : 568-569

Genus Pandirodesmus Silvestri, 1932

Type species: Pandirodesmus disparipes Silvestri, 1932

Other species included:

Pandirodesmus rutherfordi Shelley & Smith, 2015

Pandirodesmus jaggernauthi sp. nov.

Diagnosis (modified after Shelley and Smith (2015))

A genus of small bodied Chelodesminae characterized by a lightly sclerotized, smooth, greyish-white exoskeleton and alternating long and short legs, exposed parts usually covered with densely cemented, but loosely attached sand grains imparting a dark beige to black coloration and concealing setae. Metaterga narrow, without sulci, each with a pair of moderately large, subconical/digitiform projections, ozopores opening subapically on some of the latter. Paraterga absent. Spiracles opening apically on slender, inconspicuous tubules narrowly segregated from, and slightly shorter than, adjacent coxae. Anterior (longer) segmental legs arising ventrolaterad, posterior (shorter) legs arising submediad, anterior halves of sterna thus broader than caudal halves; leg lengths alternating along most of body length, posterior pair ~2/3 as long as anterior on segments 5–18; femora and tarsi substantially longer than remaining podomeres on all legs, postfemora short, swollen and nodular, articulating extremities of tibiae and tarsi also swollen and nodular. Claws absent from legs 1–3, narrow and “pin-like” on remaining legs, surrounded and overhung by long, filiform setae, those on coxae to proximal end of tarsi apically ramose and dendritic. Gonopods minute; coxae without apophyses, joined by a strong and distinct sternum; telopodite triramous, prefemoral process (medialmost) expanded, folded, and laminate, partly enveloping other branches, primary branch (lateralmost) long, curving broadly mediad and partly overhanging other branches, divided distad into a medial solenomere and a subequal tibiotarsus; secondary (inner) branch suberect, narrowing and expanding all along, but tip bilobed. Prostatic groove opening apically on solenomere.

Distribution. Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago ( Fig. 5 ).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Distribution of the genus Pandirodesmus