Taiyutyla amicitia, Shear & Richart & Wong, 2020

Shear, William A., Richart, Casey H. & Wong, Victoria L., 2020, The millipede family Conotylidae in northwestern North America, with a complete bibliography of the family (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida, Heterochordeumatidea, Conotyloidea), Zootaxa 4753 (1), pp. 1-78 : 13

Taiyutyla amicitia , new species

Figs. 27–36

Types: Male holotype, 16 male and 8 female paratypes from IDAHO: Kootenai Co., Beauty Creek, Idaho Panhandle National Forests , 47.6031°N, - 116.6453°W, collected 8 November 2004, by C. Richart, W. Leonard, J. Baugh .

Diagnosis: Taiyutyla amicitia is unique in having femoral knobs only on legpairs four and five.

Etymology: The species is named to commemorate the friendship that formed over millipede species discovery (L., amicitia , a noun in apposition) between WAS, CHR and William P. Leonard.

Description: Paratype male from Beauty Creek: Length, 10.0 mm. Twenty-two ocelli in triangular eyepatch. Metazonites with low shoulders on all trunk rings from three to 25. Color light brown, marked darker purplish brown, markings more distinct anteriorly. Legpairs one and two reduced, three to seven enlarged, mesal knobs present only on femora four and five, mesal and large on both ( Figs. 32–36 ). Anterior gonopods ( Figs. 27, 28 , 36 ) simple, with short, triangular process subdistally. Posterior gonopod coxites ( Fig. 29 , 31 ) complicated, with T-shaped branch (T, Fig. 29 ) originating subdistally, a strong, triangular tooth at its base; this branch with two long, thin processes, the more distal one set with small teeth. Terminus of coxite strongly hooked. Legpair 10 coxae of normal size, with small glands, legpair 11 femora with long, thin, dorsally directed knobs.

Female 14.5 mm long, similar to male in nonsexual characters.

Distribution: IDAHO: Shoshone Co., Hobo Cedar Grove Botanical Area, Idaho Panhandle National Forests, elev. 1295 m., 47.0880°N - 116.1152°W, 14 October 2006, W. Leonard, C. Richart, A. Fusek, Habitat: oldgrowth Tsuga heterophylla , Thuja plicata , Abies grandis , under litter and woody debris, m f (CAS).

Notes: This species, the first Taiyutyla from Idaho, is syntopic with Brunsonia pulchra , n. sp. (see below) at Beauty Creek, the type locality for both of them. The original collection was mixed, and after the two species were sorted out by size, the gonopod differences became apparent. Taiyutyla amicitia is perhaps the Taiyutyla species closest in gonopod form (particularly the posterior gonopod coxites) to some Bifurcatella , n. gen. species, but the large femoral knobs on legpair five and the somewhat larger body size argue for including it in Taiyutyla .

Figures

FIGS. 26–29. Taiyutyla spp. Fig. 26. Taiyutyla acuphora, right posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Figs. 27–29. Taiyutyla amicitia. Fig. 27. Tip of right anterior gonopod, lateral view. Fig. 28. Left anterior gonopod, mesal view. Fig. 29. Right posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view.

FIGS. 30–44. Taiyutyla amicitia and Calityla siskiyou. Figs. 30–36. Taiyutyla amcitia. Fig. 30. Anterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 31. Left posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Figs. 32–36. Male legs 3–7, respectively. Figs. 37–44. Calityla siskiyou. Fig. 37.Anterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 38. Right posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Fig. 39. Tip of right posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Figs. 40–44. Male legs 3–7, respectively.