Hedinomorpha jaegeri, Golovatch, 2021

Golovatch, Sergei I., 2021, Review of the millipede genus Hedinomorpha Verhoeff, 1934, with descriptions of three new species collected in China by Professor Jochen Martens (Diplopoda Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae), Zootaxa 4984 (1), pp. 368-384 : 373-376

Hedinomorpha jaegeri spec. nov.

Figs 16–28

Material examined. Holotype male and 1 male paratype ( SMF), China, Shaanxi Prov., Taibai Shan Mts, S flanks, above Houshenzi , 1700 m a.s.l., primary broadleaved forest, 20.VII.1997, P. Jäger & J. Martens leg.

Name. This species is dedicated to Peter Jäger, the main collector.

Diagnosis. Differs from other species of the genus by the following combination of characters: colouration brown to nearly pallid, devoid of a vivid colour pattern; paraterga poorly-developed, their pore-bearing and poreless calluses with two or three lateral incisions, respectively, mostly sharp caudally, delimited by a distinct sulcus only dorsally and a very narrow sulcus ventrally, both sulci being complete; pleurosternal carinae present only on segment 2, and the peculiar shapes of the solenophore and its outgrowths (see also Key below).

Description (male). All characters as in H. martensorum spec. nov., except as follows.

Length of holo- and paratype ca 14 or 10 mm, width of midbody pro- and metazonae 0.95 and 1.1 or 0.85 and 1.0 mm, respectively. Colouration in alcohol mainly brown (holotype) ( Figs 16–19 ) or pallid, devoid of a vivid colour pattern; in holotype, legs and tip of epiproct lighter, nearly pallid; antennomeres 6 and 7 slightly infuscate, light brown, but tip of antennae pallid.

Clypeolabral region rather densely setose. In width, collum <segment 3=4 <2 = 5–16 <head, body gently and gradually tapering on segments 17–20. Tegument generally shining and finely shagreened, most metaterga slightly tuberculate, in places rugulose to rugose above and below paraterga; surface below paraterga very delicately microgranulate; strictures between pro- and metazonae densely ribbed ( Figs 16, 18, 19 ). Tergal setae often abraded, but remaining ones thin and moderately long, mostly ca 1/3 as long as metaterga; setation pattern traceable as 2+ 2 in a transverse pre-sulcus row, setae being borne on evident, but small bosses/tubercles; about 3+3 similar tuberculations arranged in two transverse rows, one each in pre-sulcus (with 2+2 setigerous) and post-sulcus halves of metaterga, but rear row always devoid of setae or their insertion points. Dorsal surface of collum and segment 2 smooth, that of metaterga 3–18 uneven, slightly tuberculate, with a mostly unusually deep, microgranulate and wide transverse sulcus, and an axial line. Paraterga poorly developed, largely set at upper 1/3 of metatergal height, clearly drawn only anteriad and somewhat projecting beyond fore tergal margin only on segment 2; caudal corner drawn into a small and sharp tooth, but never extended behind rear tergal margin thereafter ( Figs 16–19 ). Lateral calluses subhorizontal, narrow, with two (pore-bearing segments) or three (poreless ones) small setigerous incisions at lateral margin, delimited by complete sulci both dorsally and ventrally, but ventral sulcus very narrow and indistinct. Ozopores lateral, almost invisible from above, each lying inside an ovoid pit at ca 1/4–1/5 off caudal margin. Transverse metatergal sulci exceptionally evident, deep and wide, microgranulate at bottom, slightly sinuate medially, reaching the bases of paraterga, present on segments 3–19, but less distinct on segments 3, 4 and 19. Axial line sulciform, present on both halves of metazonae. Pleurosternal carina a small squarish lappet only on segment 2, carinae totally missing thereafter ( Fig. 17 ). Epiproct ( Figs 19 , 20 ) as usual, rather long, faintly concave to subtruncate at tip, lateral pre-apical papillae small. Hypoproct ( Fig. 21 ) roundly subtrapeziform, caudal margin with 1+1 long setae borne on flat rounded knobs. Sterna without modifications except for a lower, roundly subtrapeziform, slightly concave and setose lobe between coxae 4 ( Figs 17 , 22 ). Legs moderately long and slender, obviously incrassate in male compared to a still unknown female, midbody ones ca 1.3–1.4x as long as body height, mostly less densely setose, ventral brushes on tarsi present only until leg-pair 9 or 10, gradually thinning out thereafter ( Fig. 17 ).

Gonopods ( Figs 17 , 23–28 ) largely suberect, in situ their distal parts coiled and in touch with each other; coxite subcylindrical, setose distoventrally, ca 2/3 as long as femorite (fe); prefemoral (= densely setose) part nearly half as long as fe; seminal groove (sg) running along fe at bottom of a shallow mesal groove/gutter (g) before moving onto a distinct flagelliform solenomere (sl) squeezed between a particularly strongly developed lamina lateralis (q) and a much smaller lamina medialis, and supported by a more complex postfemoral part; the latter forming a subtriangular, apical, postfemoral, lateral lobe (l) demarcated at base by a transverse sulcus, and being largely represented by a long, ribbon-shaped, loosely coiled, distally barbed and apically subacuminate solenophore branch (sph) supplied with a distinct spine (k) near midway and a small rounded lobule (l) in distal 2/3. A large, ribbon-shaped, curved and apically acuminate process (p) set at base of l in addition to both main branches (sl and sph) and a small subapical tooth (d).

Figures

FIGURES 16–19. Hedinomorpha jaegeri spec. nov., holotype male. 16 Habitus, dorsal view. 17 Anterior half of body, ventral view. 18 Midbody segments, dorsal view. 19 Caudal part of body, dorsal view. Pictures by K. Makarov, taken not to scale.

FIGURES 20–24. Hedinomorpha jaegeri spec. nov., holotype male. 20 Tip of epiproct, dorsal view. 21 Hypoproct, ventral view. 22 Sternal lobe between coxae 4, caudal view. 23–24. Right gonopod, submesal (23) and ventrolateral (24) views, respectively. Abbreviations: d—subapical tooth; fe—femorite; g—gutter; k—midway spine; l—apicolateral postfemoral lobe; lo—lobule; q—lamina lateralis; sg—seminal groove; sl—solenomere; sph—solenophore. Scale bar: 1.0 mm (20–22) and 0.5 mm (23–24).

FIGURES 25–28. Hedinomorpha jaegeri spec. nov., holotype male. Right gonopod, lateral (25), submesal (26), mesal (27) and ventral (28) views, respectively. Pictures by K. Makarov, taken not to scale.