Leonardesmus, Shelley & Shear, 2006

Shelley, Rowland M. & Shear, William A., 2006, Leonardesmus injucundus, n. gen., n. sp., an aromatic, small-bodied milliped from Washington State, U. S. A., and a revised account of the family Nearctodesmidae (Polydesmida), Zootaxa 1176 (1), pp. 1-16 : 6

Leonardesmus , new genus

Type species. Leonardesmus injucundus , new species.

Diagnosis. A genus of small­bodied Nearctodesmidae with moderately to densely hirsute head and first four terga; terga 5–18 with at most only scattered setae. Antennae with four terminal sensory cones and slight swellings, possibly indicating microsensillae, on articles 5–7. Dorsum smooth, with only shallow transverse metatergal grooves, without tubercles or pustules; epiproct extending well beyond margins of paraprocts, with long terminal setae. Sterna with bicruciform and transverse impressions, with short spines subtending coxae on most segments. Prefemora of leg pairs 2–15 (on segments 3–10) in males with distinct, rounded, dorsal lobes; femora of pregonopodal legs clavate, with suggestions of distal lobes. Gonopods with two secondary processes, prefemora curving smoothly into, and not demarcated from, acropodal stem; process "A" a broad laminate flange arising from medial surface of stem with a closely appressed, secondary, medial lamina and two variable projections on lateral surface, more proximal one divided into two branches; process "B" a long, narrow, variable, lateral projection extending distad to level of solenomere; "distal zone" of acropodite expanding into cupped lamina with irregularly toothed distal margin, solenomere long and slender, curving over lateral face of lamina.

Distribution. Known only from southwestern Washington state, U. S. A ( Fig. 3 ), some 840 mi (1,344 km) north­northwest of the closest published record of a "micro­nearctodesmid," that of Phreatodesmus cooki Loomis, 1960 , from Woodford, in the Tehachapi Mountains, Kern Co., California.

Figures

FIGURES 2–3. 2, Distribution of the Nearctodesmidae. The dot in southcentral British Columbia represents the allopatric population of Nearctodesmus insulanus in the Shuswap Region; those in California, Nevada, and Arizona, some covering two closely proximate sites, represent known or published localities for the southwestern "micro­nearctodesmids." 3, Known occurrences of Leonardesmus and L. injucundus.