Sinocallipus simplipodicus, Shear, W, Shelley, R & Heatwole, H, 2003

Shear, W, Shelley, R & Heatwole, H, 2003, Occurrence of the milliped Sinocallipus simplipodicus Zhang, 1993 in Laos, with reviews of the Southeast Asian and global callipodidan faunas, and remarks on the phylogenetic position of the order (Callipodida: Sinocallipodidea: Sinocallipodidae)., Zootaxa 365, pp. 1-20 : 4-7

The Order Callipodida in Southeast Asia

Prior to 1981, the easternmost record of the Callipodida in Eurasia was that of Bollmania kohalana (Attems, 1936) , from Kohala, Punjab Province, Pakistan (Attems, 1936). In that year, Golovatch (1981) discovered two unidentifiable females from Jiangsu (=Kiangsu) Province, China, in the collection at the Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw. He assigned them to Bollmania , then the most geographically proximate genus, although the Pakistan locality is on the other (south) side of the Himalayas and some 2,550 mi (4,080 km) west of the Chinese site; he (Golovatch, 1983, 1991) also referenced this record. We think it unlikely that this genus and family occurs in eastern China not far from Shanghai, so we assign this record to the most common Chinese family, Paracortinidae , as an unidentifiable genus and species.

Zhang (1993) was the first to propose a new taxon for Chinese callipodidans when he erected the family Sinocallipodidae for Sinocallipus simplipodicus , n. gen., n. sp., from Xian Cave, Yunnan Province. Later that year, Wang and Zhang (1993) established the family Paracortinidae for three new genera and seven new species — Paracortina (two species), Relictus (two species), and Altum (three species) — and all the new generic and familial taxa were subsequently cited by Shelley et al. (2000). Wang and Mauriès (1996) likewise listed all these taxa, reducing Relictus and Altum to subgenera under Paracortina and transferring their species into this genus, but Wang (1996), in a subsequent paper in this volume, recognized three full genera, which technically is the latest word on their statuses. Our analysis of the gonopod drawings of Wang and Zhang (1993) and our experience with distantly related callipodidans in North America indicate that there is probably only one valid genus, so we favor the arrangement of Wang and Mauriès (1996). However, the status of Relictus and Altum as subgenera of Paracortina , rather than outright synonyms, remains open to question.

Shear (2000 a) proposed Scotopetalum for a new species collected in a cave near Hanoi, Vietnam, and assigned it to the family Schizopetalidae , otherwise known from Europe, the mid­East, and, at least for now, western North America. In addition to erecting the suborder Sinocallipodidea, Shear also suggested that the Paracortinidae probably should be considered only a subfamily of the Schizopetalidae but did not formalize this status without examining authentic specimens. Thus, the composition of the Callipodida in southeast Asia is as follows; taxa are listed in chronological order by genera and species along with type localities and other occurrences, all of which are mapped in fig. 2.

Order Callipodida

Suborder Sinocallipodidea Shear, 2000 a

Family Sinocallipodidae Zhang, 1993

Genus Sinocallipus Zhang, 1993

S. simplipodicus Zhang, 1993 . China, Yunnan Prov., Hekou Yaozu Autonomous County, Xiao Cave (Zhang, 1993). Also occurring in Laos, Champasak/Attapu Provs., Bolavens Plateau (this paper).

Suborder Schizopetalidea Verhoeff, 1909

Family Paracortinidae Wang and Zhang, 1993

Genus Paracortina Wang and Zhang, 1993

Subgenus Paracortina Wang and Zhang, 1993

P. (P.) leptoclada Wang and Zhang, 1993. China, Yunnan Province, Zhong Dian County (Wang and Zhang, 1993).

P. (P.) voluta Wang and Zhang, 1993. China, Sichuan Province, Ya Jang County (Wang and Zhang, 1993).

Subgenus Relictus Wang and Zhang, 1993

P. (R..) stimula Wang and Zhang, 1993 . China, Yunnan Province, Zhong Dian County (Wang and Zhang, 1993).

P. (R..) thallina Wang and Zhang, 1993. China, Sichuan Province, Ba Tang County. Also recorded from Yunnan Province, Zhong Dian County (Wang and Zhang, 1993).

Subgenus Altum Wang and Zhang, 1993

P. (A.) viriosa Wang and Zhang, 1993 . China, Yunnan Province, Zhong Dian County. Also recorded from Tibet, Mang Kang County (Wang and Zhang, 1993).

P. (A.) serrata Wang and Zhang, 1993. China, Tibet, De Qin Autonomous Region (Wang and Zhang, 1993). This site is in the southeast periphery of Tibet, just across the border from Yunnan Province.

P. (A.) carinata Wang and Zhang, 1993. China, Yunnan Province, Zhong Dian County (Wang and Zhang, 1993).

Unidentifiable genus and species. China, Jiangsu Province, Cisian­shan, ca.

15.6 mi (25 km) S Nanjing (Golovatch, 1981).

Family Schizopetalidae Verhoeff, 1909

Genus Scotopetalum Shear, 2000 a

S. warreni Shear, 2000 a. Vietnam, northwest of Hanoi, anunnamed cave at Hong Mat; also tentatively recorded from Huang Tua Cave northwest of Hanoi (Shear, 2000 a). The exact locations of these sites, which are south of the Tropic of Cancer, are unknown, and Hong (Huong, Hoang, Hung) Mat is not on any map available to us, nor can we find any town with the word, “Mat,” as part of its name. The coordinates given for the type locality are in fact southwest, not northwest, of Hanoi, and we have placed them on the map accordingly (fig. 2).

The occurrence of identifiable callipodidans in Tibet, Sichuan, and Yunnan Provinces, China, northern Vietnam, and southern Laos, and the discovery of unidentifiable females in eastern Jiangsu Province, ca. 180 mi (288 km) west of metropolitan Shanghai and not far from the mouth of the Yangtze River, is evidence of a widespread callipodidan fauna in southeastern Asia ( Figs. 1–2 ). Most of the material comes from montane areas around the contiguous corners of Tibet, Sichuan, and Yunnan Provinces; drawing a smooth curve around range extremes produces a general area of roughly 1,500 mi (2,400 km), east­west, and 1,200 mi (1,920 km), north­south, which equals some 1,800,000 sq. mi. (4,608,000 sq. km). In China, localities exist both north and south of the Yangtze River, and the northern­ and westernmost records indicate that callipodidans may potentially be discovered in parts or all of the following 15 provinces: Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shanghai Shi. This includes essentially the entire area south of the Yangtze except for distant reaches near the headwaters and likely extends northward for an unknown distance. Judging from known records, the region probably extends well into Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam, and possibly covers the entire Indochinese Peninsula; occurrences in the easternmost part of India (Assam), the Malay Peninsula, and Hainan Island, China, are also plausible. This vast, poorly investigated area is roughly equivalent in size to that in eastern North America and surely harbors many undiscovered species and genera. Based upon its size, Shear (2000 a) was surely correct in suggesting that southeast Asia constitutes a third center of ordinal diversity in addition to southwestern North America and the eastern Mediterranean ( Fig. 1 ). Indeed, this may be an understatement; its diversity may be greater, such that southeast Asia may be the primary center worldwide. Wang and Mauriès (1996) stated that probably no more than 5% of the total Chinese myriapod species had been discovered, and to some degree this statement also applies to southeast Asia in general, the Callipodida being a case in point. Field work in the area in which the order is projected to occur is greatly desired.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Approximate global distribution of the order Callipodida.

FIGURE 2. Distribution of the Callipodida in southeastern Asia. The Yangtze River is indicated in China; the dotted line, a smooth curve drawn around range extremes, shows the border of the projected ordinal distribution shaded in fig. 1; and the dashed line represents the Tropic of Cancer. Dots, Sinocallipus simplipodicus; upright triangle, Paracortina (P.) leptoclada; solid diamond, P. (P.) voluta; solid square, P. (Relictus) stimula; open squares in China, P. (R.) thallina; stars, P. (Altum) viriosa; inverted triangle, P. (A.) serrata; circle, P. (A.) carinata; open squares in Vietnam, Scotopetalum warreni;?, unknown paracortinid genus and species.