Mecistocephalus marmoratus Verhoeff, 1934

Published, First, 2007, The Mecistocephalidae of the Japanese and Taiwanese islands (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha), Zootaxa 1396, pp. 1-84 : 42-44

Mecistocephalus marmoratus Verhoeff, 1934

Fig. 50

[1] Mecistocephalus (Mecistocephalus) marmoratus Verhoeff — Zool. Jahrb. Syst. 66: 38 (original description, key)

[2] Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Takakuwa 1934a — Annot. Zool. Japon. 14: 363

Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Takakuwa 1934c — Bot. & Zool. Tokyo 2: 884

Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Takakuwa 1936c — Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa 26: 323

[3] Mecistocephalus (Mecistocephalus) marmoratus: Takakuwa 1936b — Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa 26: 433 (key) Mecistocephalus (Mecistocephalus) marmoratus: Takakuwa 1938a — Annot. Zool. Japon. 17: 354

[4] Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Takakuwa 1939 — Trans. Biogeogr. Soc. Japan 3: 123

Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Verhoeff 1939 — Zool. Jahrb. Syst. 72: 82 (key)

Mecistocephalus (Mecistocephalus) marmoratus: Takakuwa 1940 — Fauna Nippon. 9: 71 (redescription, key); fig. 66–69

[5] Mecistocephalus insulomontanus Gressitt 1941 — Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. 8: 55 (original description) new synonymy Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Takakuwa 1942a — Acta Arachn. 7: 39

Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Takakuwa 1943 — Bull. Biogeogr. Soc. Japan 13: 170

Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Attems 1947 — Ann. Naturhistor. Mus. Wien 55: 100 (key)

Mecistocephalus (Mecistocephalus) marmoratus: Takashima 1949 — Acta Arachn. 11: 13

Mecistocephalus (Mecistocephalus) marmoratus: Takashima & Shinohara 1952 — Acta Arachn. 13: 16 Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Shinohara 1961b — Zool. Mag. Tokyo 70: 215

Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Murakami 1993 — List Animals Plants Japan 5: 105

Mecistocephalus insulomontanus: Wang & Mauriès 1996 — Mém. Mus. natn. Hist. Nat. Paris 169: 89 Mecistocephalus marmoratus: Shinohara 1999 — Pictorial Keys Soil Anim. Japan: 709

Diagnosis. A Mecistocephalus species with 49 leg­bearing segments. Body length reaching about 5 cm in adults. Trunk with dark patches. Head 1.7–2.0 times as long as wide. Areolate part of the clypeus with smooth insulae, each side with 4 setae; clypeal ratio about 1.3–1.5. Antero­lateral part of each plagula covered with small, dense pore­like sensilla. Anterior ala of the labrum subtrapezoidal, with medial margin not reduced to a vertex. Buccae with setae on the posterior half only, and pore­like sensilla on the distal part. Forcipular article I with two teeth, one distal to the other, the distal tooth bigger than the basal one. Sternal sulcus apparently not furcate. Legs of the last pair without additional short, ventral setae.

Type material. Holotype: female, 52 mm long, age not stated ( Verhoeff, 1934), possibly adult (age inferred from the large size and the presence of gonopods).

Type locality. ‘ Umgebung von Tokyo’ [= near Tokyo], Honshu ( Verhoeff, 1934) .

Depository of type material. Unknown.

Material examined. 4 specimens: 1 male, adult (50 mm), from Beililungshan, Taiwan, (date and collector unknown), coll. AM ; 1 male, adult (46 mm), from Slin, Pingtung, South Cape , Taiwan, 1. VI .1999 (collector unknown), coll. HWC; 1 female, adult (45 mm), from Sozan , Taiwan, 29. III .1932, Gressit leg., coll. CAS; 1 male, subadult (44 mm) from Arisan , Taiwan, 24. V .1934, J.L. Gressitt leg., coll. CAS (holotype of Mecistocephalus insulomontanus Gressitt, 1941 ) .

Description. Body size of adults between about 4.5 and 5.0 cm, at least. Body colour orange, with dark patches along the trunk, sometimes faint. Head 1.7–2.0 times as long as wide; frontal line rounded. Antennae 4.4–5.8 times as long as the head width. Apical sensilla 8–10 µm long. Clypeus: clypeal ratio 1.2–1.5; areolate part with 4–7 irregular smooth insulae on each side, often with indistinct margins and coalescent; 4 setae on each side of the clypeus, each seta inside an insula; 20–70 pore­like sensilla on the antero­external part of each plagula; 1–2 short spine­like sensilla usually present on each plagula, along the anterior margin; several porelike sensilla also in the areolate part and insulae. Labrum: anterior ala subtrapezoidal with medial margin not reduced to a vertex; internal margins of side­pieces convergent backwards; posterior margin of each sidepiece sinuous, slightly convex close to the internal and external ends, without any medial process, not crenulate and without hair­like projections. Spiculum present, buccae with some setae on the posterior half only and with several pore­like sensilla at the distal end. Mandible: about 7 well­developed lamellae; first lamella with about 6 teeth; average intermediate lamella with about 15–20 teeth, basal teeth similar to distal teeth; basal tooth of the mandible with entire margin, slightly shorter than the first tooth of the first lamella. First maxillae: anterior corners of coxosternum projecting; each medial projection about 1.8–2.2 times as long as wide, internal margin with 6–8 long setae, distal lobe 2.5–2.9 times as long as wide, clavate; each telopodite about 3.9–4.1 times as long as wide, with 3–4 basal setae, distal lobe slightly clavate. Second maxillae: article I of telopodite about 3.5–3.7 times as long as wide; article III about 2.5–2.9 times as long as wide, with many setae; apical claw present. Forcipular segment: width to length ratio of exposed part of coxosternum 1.2–1.4; cerrus composed of two convergent rows of setae and a lateral group on each side; dorsal ridge of each pleuron evident. Forcipules: article I about 1.8–2.1 times as long as wide, basal tooth smaller than the distal tooth; articles II and III each with a small tooth; tarsungulum with two small basal teeth, one dorsal to the other; poison calyx extending backwards to the distal part of the forcipular article I. A total of 49 leg­bearing segments. Sternal sulcus apparently not furcate. Last leg­bearing segment: sternum as long as wide; telopodites without dense short setae on the ventral side, with one short apical spine.

Distribution in the considered area.

Honshu: ‘ Umgebung von Tokyo’ [= near Tokyo] [1] (type locality); ‘Hiroshima’ [3] .

Shikoku: ‘Imaharu, Aosima’ [3].

Kyushu: ‘Osumi­bei Kagoshima’[=Osumi near Kagoshima] [2].

Ryukyu Islands: Ryukyu Ids [4] (transcribed from Japanese).

Taiwan: ‘Tainan’ [3]; Arisan [5]; Beililungshan (new); Slin (new); Pingtung (new); Sozan (new).

General distribution. Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan.

Remarks. M. insulomontanus Gressitt, 1941 , described upon a single specimen from Arisan (Taiwan), is here recognised as a junior synonym of M. marmoratus ( Verhoeff, 1934) after examination of the holotype, which is fully consistent with other specimens of M. marmoratus observed by us and with the original description of this latter species. The original description of M. insulomontanus was inaccurate in some points: the teeth of the first forcipular article were described as short and subequal, but they are actually well developed in comparison with other species and the distal one is larger than the basal one; a single insula bearing a seta was reported on each side of the clypeus, but there are actually about four on each side. It is also remarkable that Gressitt (1941) did not mention at all the presence of dense pore­like sensilla covering the clypeus and the anterior part of the buccae, which represent the most distinctive character of M. marmoratus (see Fig. 50) and were illustrated and described as glandular pores by Verhoeff (1934) in the original description.