Sphaerotherium punctulatum Brandt, 1841

Spiegel, Didier Van den, Golovatch, Sergei I. & Hamer, and Michelle L., 2002, Revision of some of the oldest species in the millipede genus Sphaerotherium Brandt, 1833 (Diplopoda, Sphaerotheriida, Sphaerotheriidae), with new synonymies, African Invertebrates 43, pp. 143-181 : 166-168

Sphaerotherium punctulatum Brandt, 1841

See Van den Spiegel (2002) for a redescription of the species.

Comments: Among the unidentified material housed in NHML, the first author has traced some Sphaerotherium samples taken in Malawi. A careful examination revealed that they belong to S. punctulatum , most probably imported from South Africa through human agency. This provided an opportunity to redescribe S. punctulatum . Based on a re-examination of the type material kept in ZISP, the endotergum in the female paralectotype appears to be different from that of the male lectotype. In the succinct original description of S. punctulatum given by Brandt (1841 a), no mention was made of the structure of the tergal underside, while Attems (1928) was apparently the first to illustrate this character. However, he must have depicted this structure using material more similar to the female paralectotype which, according to our observations, seems to be closer to S. obtusum than to S. punctulatum . The similarity between the two species was also observed by Butler (1873), who wrote in his succinct redescription of punctulatum that this species is identical to obtusum . Indeed, these species are very close and have very similar telopods. Yet both differ dramatically in the structure of the tergal underside ( Figs 40, 42 ).

S. punctulatum is the type species of Natalobelum Verhoeff, 1924 , but as both S. punctulatum and S. retusum C. L. Koch, 1947 share the increased number of apical sensory cones on the antenna, Natalobelum is a strict junior subjective synonym of Bournellum (see also above under S. dorsale and below under S. rotundatum ).

Figures

Figs 34–42. Endotergum (SEM) in Sphaerotherium species. 34. S. compressum (^paralectotype). 35. S. dorsale (^ holotype). 36. S. elongatum (^ paralectotype). 37. S. giganteum (^ lectotype). 38. S. intermedium (^ holotype). 39. S. lichtensteinii (^ paralectotype). 40. S. obtusum (^ holotype). 41. S. punctatum (^ lectotype). 42. S. punctulatum (Ò lectotype).