Asphalidesmus otwayensis, Mesibov, Robert, 2011

Mesibov, Robert, 2011, New species of Asphalidesmus Silvestri, 1910 from Australia (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Dalodesmidea), ZooKeys 93, pp. 43-66 : 53-57

Asphalidesmus otwayensis sp. n. Figs 1G2D3C9map fig. 12

Holotype.

Male, Maits Rest, Otway Ranges, Vic, 38°45'S, 143°34'E ± 1 km, 250 m, 24-25 December 1991, collector unknown (see Remarks), ANIC 64-000206.

Paratypes.

3 males, 2 females, details as for holotype, ANIC 64-000207.

Other material.

(All from Otway Ranges, Vic) 4 males, 4 females, Phillips Road, 38°39'25"S, 143°30'E ± 2 km, 25 December 1991, collector unknown (see Remarks), forest litter, ANIC 64-000208; 1 male, 1 stadium 5 female, Turtons Pass, 38°38'43"S, 143°40'36"E ± 25 m, 420 m, 12 December 2003, R. Mesibov and T. Moule, MV K11142; 1 male, 1 female, same details but 38°38'39"S, 143°41'20"E ± 25 m, 480 m, MV K11143; 1 male, 1 female, 1 stadium 6 female, Calder Ridge, 38°42'41"S, 143°34'03"E ± 25 m, 380 m, 13 December 2003, R. Mesibov and T. Moule, MV K11141.

Diagnosis.

Gonopod telopodites crossed at ca two-thirds telopodite height; apodous ring 18 produced dorsally as large, rounded swelling; 5 transverse rows of tubercles on midbody metatergites.

Description.

Males and females approximately the same size, length ca 6 mm, ring 6 vertical diameter ca 0.6 mm and maximum width ca 1.1 mm. Midbody metatergites with 5 transverse rows of tubercles dorsally. Paranota wide (Fig. 3C); anterior and lateral margins in single convex curve, posterior margin straight with small round tab near base; 4-5 weakly defined marginal lobes. Ring 18 produced dorsally as large, rounded swelling (Fig. 1G) in both males and females.

Gonopod telopodite (Figs 2D, 9) divided into anterior and posterior branches at ca three-quarters telopodite height; telopodite widest just below division, bent posterodistally at ca one-half telopodite height, tapering basally to small base with small, rounded lobes directed posteriorly and posterolaterally, each lobe carrying a few small setae; a few small setae on posterior surface of telopodite just basal to division. Anterior branch anteroposteriorly flattened, directed posterodistally, expanded at tip into rhomboid, the central portion of the rhomboid thickened as finger-like process. Posterior branch similarly flattened, directed distally, the tip expanded into rhomboid lying just anterior to and parallel with rhomboid of anterior branch (leaving a small gap between), thus crossing anterior branch and terminating anterior to the latter’s tip. Prostatic groove on anterior surface of telopodite, continuing on anterior branch to terminate at tip of finger-like process. Gonopod telopodites crossed near tips (see Remarks), with one telopodite nesting in bend on posterior surface of other telopodite.

Distribution.

Known from cool temperate rainforest and wet eucalypt forest in the Otway Ranges in southwestern Victoria (Fig. 12).

Etymology.

For the Otway Ranges, home to this species.

Remarks.

The collector of the Maits Rest and Phillips Road samples from December 1991 is not named on the ANIC sample labels, which I copied when labelling specimens sorted from ANIC mixed holdings. Museum Victoria personnel collected at Otway Ranges sites at various times between October 1991 and March 1992, but there are no MV samples from 24 or 25 December 1991 (K. Walker, pers. comm., 4 March 2011). The ANIC database also has no collection records for other taxa from these places and dates (B. Mantle, pers. comm., 4 March 2011). The most likely possibility is that an entomological collector, not from MV, coincidentally sampled in the Otway Ranges during the 1991 Christmas holiday period and deposited the material in ANIC.

Latitude/longitude data in italics are based on local maps and Google Earth.

Crossing of gonopod telopodites (Fig. 9) is unusual in Dalodesmidea . In this species it may be facilitated by the remarkably small telopodite base articulating with the gonocoxa. The right telopodite crosses anterior to the left telopodite in six of the 11 Asphalidesmus otwayensis males examined, and posterior to the left telopodite in the other five.

Neither of the two juvenile females has a dorsal swelling on an apodous ring (ring 17 in stadium 6, rings 15 and 16 in stadium 5).