Brachydesmus (Lophobrachydesmus) furcatus Lohmander, 1936

Golovatch, Sergei, Evsyukov, Aleksandr & Reip, Hans, 2016, The millipede family Polydesmidae in the Caucasus (Diplopoda: Polydesmida), Zootaxa 4085 (1), pp. 1-51 : 19-21

Brachydesmus (Lophobrachydesmus) furcatus Lohmander, 1936

Fig. 10 , Map 3

Brachydesmus (Lophobrachydesmus) furcatus Lohmander, 1936: 16 (D).

Brachydesmus (Lophobrachydesmus) furcatus— Attems, 1940: 134 (D); Lang, 1959: 1795 (R). Brachydesmus furcatus furcatus— Strasser, 1970: 204 (D); Lokšina and Golovatch, 1979: 384 (M); Talikadze, 1984: 143 (R). Brachydesmus (Lophobrachydesmus) furcatus exiguus Strasser, 1970: 204 (D), syn. n.

Brachydesmus furcatus exiguus— Lokšina and Golovatch, 1979: 384 (M); Talikadze, 1984: 143 (R). Brachydesmus furcatus— Chumachenko, 2012: 452 (R);

Material examined. 1 male, 5 juv. (ZMUM), RUSSIA, Krasnodar Prov., Gelendjik, Mikhailovskii Pass, Fagus forest, 26.V.1956; 3 females (ZMUM), same locality and Pass, Fagus forest, 5.VII.1956; 1 female, 3 juv. (ZMUM), same locality, Fagus forest, under bark, 26.V.1956; 1 female, 2 juv. (ZMUM), Gelendjik, forest, 28.IV.1955; 1 female (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Tuapse Distr., Georgievskoe Forestry, Castanea forest, 7.V.1954; 1 female (ZMUM), same locality, SSW slope, Quercus forest, 18.V.1954; 3 males, 6 juv. (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Tuapse Distr., Cherepsinskoye Forestry, Quersus forest, S slope, 15.V.1954, all leg. M. Ghilarov, all det. H. Lohmander, det. C. Dziadosz, 1968; 1 female (ZMUM), Sochi, Khosta, Buxus forest, 29.VI.1956, leg. M. Ghilarov; 2 females (ZMUM), same locality, Caucasian Nature Reserve, Taxus and Buxus forest, 15.V.1985, leg. S. Golovatch; 1 male, 1 female (ZMUM), same locality, Taxus and Buxus forest, III.2006, leg. Yu. Chumachenko; 1 female (ZMUM), Adygea, Guzeripl, Caucasian Nature Reserve, Pasture Abago S of Guzeripl, 1700 – 1850 m a.s.l., Abies and Fagus forest, Rhododendron thicket, litter, 24 – 26.V.1985, leg. S. Golovatch; 1 male, 2 females (AE), Adygea, near Guzeripl, Abies forest, 19.VI.2011, leg. D. Khisametdinova and E. Bortnikov; 1 female (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Sochi, Krasnaya Polyana, 6 – 8.VI.1976; 1 female (ZMUM), same locality, 1900 m a.s.l., under stones, 29.VI.1956; 1 female (ZMUM), same locality, 600 m a.s.l., Castanea forest, litter, 1.VI.1956, all leg. M. Ghilarov; 1 female (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Sochi, Dagomys, 250 m a.s.l., Quercus, Corylus , Fagus etc. scrub, litter, logs, 18.V.1983; 2 females (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Sochi, Caucasian Nature Reserve, Pslukh ca 20 km E of Krasnaya Polyana, Mt Aishkho-2, S slope, 1600 m a.s.l., Abies , Fagus , Betula etc. forest, 12.VIII.1986; 1 male, 2 females (ZMUM), same locality, Mt Kogot, Abies and Fagus forest up to timberline, 1650 – 1850 m a.s.l., litter, under bark and stones, 18–20.V.1985; 1 female (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Caucasian Nature Reserve, Krasnaya Polyana, 6 – 8.VI.1978, all leg. S. Golovatch; 2 females, 39 juv. (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Sochi, Mt Bolshoy Akhun, Cave Akhunskaya, 19.VII.2015, leg. I. Turbanov; 9 juv. (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Kabardinka, scrub, 2.VI.1956, leg. M. Ghilarov; 9 juv. (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Severskaya Distr., 2 – 10 km S of Ubinskaya, 300 – 450 m a.s.l., Quercus , Fagus , Carpinus etc. forest, litter and under bark, 3 – 4.VII.1986; 2 females, 22 juv. (ZMUM), same locality, Mt Derbiy ca 15 km SW of Ubinskaya, 800 – 850 m a.s.l., Quercus , Fagus , Fraxinus etc. forest, litter and under bark, 2.VII.1986, all leg. S. Golovatch; 6 juv. (ZMUM), same locality, Ubinskoye Forestry,

Quercus forest, 16.VI.1953, leg. M. Ghilarov; 2 males, 3 females (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Goryachiy Klyuch, Cave Fanagoriyskaya, ca 12 km SW of Fanagoriyskoye, 30.X.1981; 1 male, 3 females, 3 juv. (ZMUM), same locality, Fagus , Acer , Picea etc. forest, litter and under logs, 19.V.1983, all leg. S. Golovatch; 1 female (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Goryachiy Klyuch, without data; 1 male (ZMUM), same locality, Kotkh Mt. Range, Quercus forest, soil, 18.V.1956; 11 juv. (ZMUM), same locality, Pshaf Mt. Range, forest on limestone, 20.V.1956; 3 females (ZMUM), Pshaf Mt. Range, near “Belaya Latka”, Quercus forest, 17.VI.1956; 3 females, 8 juv. (ZMUM), Pshaf Mt. Range, near “Belaya Latka”, S slope, Quercus forest, 18.VI.1956; 8 females, 18 juv. (ZMUM), same locality, Kotkh Mt. Range, summit, S slope, Quercus forest, 20.VI.1956; 2 females, 2 juv. (ZMUM), Kotkh Mt. Range, summit, S slope, Quercus forest, 21.VI.1956; 1 male, 1 female (ZMUM), Kotkh Mt. Range, Quercus forest, 18.VI.1956; 1 female (ZMUM), same locality, Canyon Bukovoe, 5.IV.1954; 7 juv. (ZMUM), Bolnichi, Mt Petushok, NE slope, Carpinus forest, 4.VIII.1955; 1 juv. (ZMUM), Krasnodar Prov., Mt Ostraya, 1.VIII.1954; 1 female (ZMUM), same locality, 3.VIII.1954; 1 juv. (ZMUM), Kuban, Azovskaya, under Tkachovskoye, Quercus forest belt, 24.VII.1955, all leg. M. Ghilarov, all det. H. Lohmander, det. C. Dziadosz, 1968.

2 males, 3 females (ZMUM), ABKHAZIA, Myussera Nature Reserve, 20 – 130 m a.s.l., Castanea , Alnus etc. forest, 8 – 10.IV.1983, leg. S. Golovatch; 1 male (SMNG 14685), Transcaucasus, Riza-See (= Lake Ritsa), 20.VI.1984, leg. W. Dunger.

Descriptive notes. Length ca 8.5 – 12 mm, width of midbody metazonae 0.8 – 1.3 mm (male, female), metazonite to prozonite width ratio <1.4 ( Fig. 10A – 10D ). Live coloration usually uniformly pallid to light brown.

All characters as in B. assimilis ( Fig. 10 ), except as follows. Paraterga poorly-developed, their fore margins and anterolateral corner largely broadly and regularly rounded, not angular; caudolateral corner mostly obtuseangled, pointed or nearly pointed and drawn behind rear tergal margin only in segments 16 – 18 ( Fig. 10A – 10D ). Tergal setae mostly very short and subbacilliform. Metatergal sculpture especially superficial. Male prefemora not bulging laterad. Gonopod ( Fig. 10E – 10G ) bipartite, strongly falcate, much as in B. pigmentatus , but exomere (ex) with a conspicuous densely pilose strip, endomere (en) simple and bare, while tooth (t) at base of femorite very prominent and strongly rounded.

Remarks. The differences of B. furcatus exiguus Strasser (1970) , described from a cave near Sochi, such as a slightly smaller and narrower body, a somewhat shorter endomere, a smaller pilose strip on the exomere and a less prominent tooth at the base of the gonofemorite ( Fig. 10 G ) as compared to the sympatric nominate subspecies, seem to represent only individual variations. Hence we do not hesitate to formally synonymize B. furcatus exiguus under B. furcatus , syn. n. Moreover, the name B. f. exiguus Strasser, 1970 has long been jeopardized by the much older homonym, B. exiguus Brölemann, 1894 , from Italy ( Brölemann 1894).

Given the striking similarities observed in gonopod structure between B. (s. str.) pigmentatus and B. (Lophobrachydesmus) furcatus , the status of the latter subgenus is to be questioned.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Brachydesmus furcatus Lohmander, 1936. A: habitus, entire body, dorsal view, male from Mount Kogot, Caucasian Nature Reserve, Krasnodar Prov., Russia. B – D: male from near Goryachiy Klyuch, Krasnodar Prov., Russia, B: anterior part of body, dorsal view; C: right half of metatergite 10, dorsal view; D: posterior part of body, dorsal view. E – F: male holotype of B. furcatus, right and left gonopods, lateral and mesal views, respectively (after Lohmander 1936); G: male holotype of B. furcatus exiguus Strasser, 1970, left gonopod, lateral view (after Strasser 1970). Designations: en, endomere; ex, exomere; t, tooth at base of femorite. Picture A by K. Makarov, taken not to scale. Line drawings B – D by S. Dashdamirov, scale bar: 1.0 mm (B – D), not to scale (E – G).