Endogeophilus, Bonato & Zapparoli & Drago & Minelli, 2016

Bonato, Lucio, Zapparoli, Marzio, Drago, Leandro & Minelli, Alessandro, 2016, An unusually elongate endogeic centipede from Sardinia (Chilopoda: Geophilidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 231, pp. 1-19 : 3

Endogeophilus gen. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0904F67C-219A-459F-A121-3D0C7E47D469

Figs 1–4 ; Table 1

Type species

Endogeophilus ichnusae gen. et sp. nov.

Diagnosis

Geophilids with body almost uniform in width, only slightly tapering at both ends; head slightly longer than wide; clypeus uniformly areolate, without clypeal areas; intermediate part of the labrum bearing a few tubercles; labral side-parts distinct from the clypeus, well separated from each other, their posterior margin with bristles; first maxillae with bi-articulated telopodites and two pairs of short lappets; second maxillary coxosternite with long isthmus, without inner processes, and lacking distinctly sclerotized ridges; second maxillary telopodites composed of three articles, bearing a simple, sub-conic claw; forcipular tergite sub-trapezoid, posteriorly about as wide as the subsequent tergite, the lateral margins distinctly converging anteriorly; forcipular coxosternite slightly wider than long, without anterior denticles, chitin-lines complete, coxopleural sutures complete and distinctly diverging anteriorly; forcipules stout and strongly tapering, with two distinct intermediate articles: forcipular tarsungula abruptly narrowing, relatively short and only weakly curved, with a single small basal denticle; carpophagus pits shallow; leg-bearing segments with a sub-ovoid/sub-triangular pore-field on the posterior half of each metasternite; leg claws bearing two slender accessory spines; ultimate legbearing segment with pleuropretergite entire, metasternite sub-trapezoid wider than long; coxal pores mainly opening along the ventro-internal, anterior and dorso-internal sides of the coxopleuron, with an additional isolated ventral pore; telopodites of the ultimate leg pair composed of six articles, slightly swollen in the male in comparison with the female, bearing a claw; bi-articulated gonopods in the male, short gonopodal lamina in the female; a pair of anal pores.

Differential characters with respect to the most similar genera are given in Table 1 .

Etymology

Composed of the prefix “endo-”, from the classic Greek ενδον (inside), and the genus name Geophilus , which is from the classic Greek prefix γεω- (earth) and φιλέω (to love), referring to the endogeic habitat. The gender of the genus name is masculine.

Figures

Fig. 1. Endogeophilus ichnusae gen. et sp. nov. A–F. Holotype, ♀. A. Anterior part of the body, dorsal view, setae omitted. B. Head, without antennae, and forcipular segment, dorsal view. C. Leg-bearing segment 21, dorsal view. D. Leg-bearing segment 21, ventral view. E. Head, without antennae, ventral view. F. Ultimate leg-bearing segment and postpedal segments, ventral view, setae omitted. G. Paratype B, ³, ultimate leg-bearing segment and postpedal segments, ventral view, setae omitted. Line drawings based on photos taken at the microscope. Scale bars = 200 µm.

Fig. 2. Endogeophilus ichnusae gen. et sp. nov., holotype, ♀, forcipular segment, left half. A. Dorsal view. B. Ventral view. Scale bar = 100 µm.

Fig. 3. Endogeophilus ichnusae gen. et sp. nov., paratype A, ³. A. Leg-bearing segment 20, ventral view. B. Posterior part of leg-bearing segment 21 and anterior part of segment 22, ventral view. C. Right forcipular tarsungulum, ventral view. D. Right tarsungulum, ventro-mesal view. E. Right tarsungulum, frontal view. SEM micrographs. Scale bars = 50 µm.

Fig. 4. Forcipules of Endogeophilus ichnusae gen. et sp. nov. and the two most similar geophilid species. Left part of the forcipular segment, ventral view, in adult females. A. E. ichnusae gen. et sp. nov., holotype, ♀, original drawing. B. Geophilus electricus (Linnaeus, 1758), original drawing from a representative specimen, ♀ (see ‘Material and methods’). C. Galliophilus beatensis Ribaut & Brolemann, 1927, holotype, ♀, redrawn from Brolemann (1927). Scale bars = 200 µm.