Hyleoglomeris vittata Verhoeff, 1929

Chang, Hsueh-Wen, 2010, Pill-millipedes (Glomerida, Diplopoda) in Taiwan, Zootaxa 2477, pp. 1-20 : 13-18

Hyleoglomeris vittata Verhoeff, 1929

Figs 37–56 .

Hyleoglomeris vittata Verhoeff, 1929: 654 , figs 58 & 59 (D).

Hyleoglomeris vittata – Moritz & Fischer 1974: 368 (R); Korsós 2003: 14 (R); Golovatch et al. 2006: 892 (N).

Material examined: 5 males, 1 female, 1 juvenile ( ZMUM), Taiwan, Taroko National Park, 23°04’10"N, 120°45’28"E, 7 February 2007, leg. M. H. Shu; 1 male ( MNHN), 2 females, 1 juvenile ( ZMUC), Hualien County, Taroko National Park, Shakadang Trail, subtropical primary forest, 24°09.767’N, 121°36.664’E, 112 m, 24 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 5 males, 3 females ( HNHM), 2 males, 2 females ( NSYSU), 2 males, 2 females ( ZMUM), Hualien County, Taroko National Park, Pilu Sacred Tree, parking lot, 24°10.840’N, 121°24.189’E, 2200 m, 22 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 1 male (NMNS- 6290-001), same locality, Pilu Sacred Tree, logging road, primary broad-leaved forest, 24°10.840’N, 121°24.189’E, 2200 m, 22 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 1 male ( NSYSU), 1 male, 1 female ( ZMUM), Hualien County, Taroko National Park, Dayuling, along Road No. 8, 24°11.140’N, 121°19.552’E, 2960 m, 22 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 1 female ( HNHM), Hualien County, Taroko National Park, along Road No. 8 at Chinma Tunnel, 24°10.450’N, 121°22.683’E, 2003 m, under stones, 22 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 2 males ( HNHM), Hualien County, Taroko National Park, Visitor Centre, 24°09.51’N, 121°37.33’E, 50 m, 9 December 1998, leg. Gy. Fábián & Z. Korsós; 1 male, 2 females ( NSYSU), Hualien County, Taroko National Park, Chungte rest area, 24°11.538’N, 121°39.658’E, 119 m, 25 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 1 male, 6 females, 1 juvenile ( HNHM), Hualien County, Hoping, Aoha, subtropical primary forest, 24°20.071’N, 121°44.640’E, 123 m, 25 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 1 male (NMNS-6290-002), Hualien County, Xiulin Township, Taroko National Park, Dayuling, eastern slope of Mt Maomu, 24°10.881’N, 121°19.408’E, disturbed secondary mixed forest, 2498 m, 11 October 2009, leg. L. Dányi & E. Lazányi; 1 male ( ZMUM), Taitung County, Yanping, secondary Cryptomeria taiwanensis forest, 22°53.464’N, 121°01.933’E, 1092 m, 28 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 1 male, 3 females, 1 carcass ( HNHM), Taitung County, Siyangyang National Forest Recreation Area, 23°15’N, 120°59’E, 2272 m, mixed pine-broad-leaved forest, 27 September 2007, leg. Z. & P. Korsós; 1 male ( MNHN), 1 male ( HNHM), Taichung County, Alishan Township, Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, Southern ridge of Chuanxiang Shan, primary broadleaved forest, 24°14.771’N, 120°58.578’E, 2047 m, 24 October 2009, leg. L. Dányi & E. Lazányi; 1 male ( HNHM), Nantou County, Meifong, logging road, primary broad-leaved forest, 24°05.881’N, 121°10.735’E, 2093 m, 20 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 2 males, 4 females (NMNS-6290-003), 1 male, 2 females ( HNHM), 1 male, 2 females ( IBSS), 1 male, 2 females ( NSYSU), Nantou County, Renai Township, Lishan, SE slope of Mt Wufanaiwe, 24°13.957’N, 121°16.124’E, 2151 m, disturbed primary forest, 22°42.262’N, 121°00.861’E, 258 m, disturbed secondary broad-leaved forest, 12 October 2009, leg. L. Dányi & E. Lazányi; 1 female (NMNS-6290-004), Nantou County, Kao-Leng Dyi, 18 km W of Wushe, 24°04.605’N, 121°07.583’E, 2074 m, 18–19 April 2002, leg. D. Austine, Gy. Fábián & O. Merkl; 1 male ( ZMUC), 1 male (NMNS-6290-005), Nantou County, Lienhuachi forestry station, primary forest, 23°56.659’N, 120°53.040’E, 705 m, 18 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 1 male, 1 female ( NSYSU), Kaohsiung County, Taoyuan Township, Tengjhih, 15 April 2006, leg. M. H. Shu.

Diagnosis: Differs from congeners in the predominantly dark coloration and highly variable colour pattern, yet with a nearly wanting axial line always persisting, coupled with the relatively more robust telopod supplied with a particularly high central lobe and simple tips of the horns of the syncoxite.

Redescription: Length of non-stretched but unrolled specimens of both sexes ca 6.5–15.0 mm, width 2.8–6.0 mm, respectively. General coloration dark, brown to blackish, often with contrastingly light brown to yellowish spots or markings; colour pattern sometimes vivid ( Figs 44–56 ). Head usually entirely dark brown, more rarely light marbled brown in rear half; antennae dark purplish-brown; gnathochilarium marbled brown to dark yellow; venter yellow to light grey, tarsi sometimes light brown. Collum usually dark marbled brown, more rarely infuscate only medially and laterally. Thoracic shield from nearly completely dark, brown to blackish, to brown-yellow with or, more rarely, without dark, central, transverse spot. Terga 3(4)–9(10, 11) with marbled, light to dark brown, more or less large, transverse spots laterally and often with traces of a lighter axial line. More rarely, thoracic shield, as well as terga 3, 10 and 11 (nearly) completely light, yellowish. Pygidium mostly dark, often slightly more flavous near base and centromedially or only medially near caudal edge, more rarely completely light, yellowish at base and centromedially.

Head with a densely setose labrum ( Figs 50 , 54 and 56 ). Gnathochilarium with 2+2 palps of subequal length. Ocellaria blackish, ocelli 6+1 to 8+1, lenses very convex, translucent. Antennae with four large apical cones, segment 6 ca 2.3–2.4 times as long as high. Organ of Tőmősváry oblong-oval, elongate, ca 1.4–1.5 times as long as broad.

Collum as usual, with two transverse striae.

Thoracic shield ( Figs 46, 49 and 51 ) with a small hyposchism field not projecting caudad beyond tergal contour. Striae 7–13, mostly superficial, only lower 3–4 striae lying just above schism sometimes slightly impressed: 3–5 lying above schism, one level to schism, remaining below schism, with 2–6 (different) complete, crossing the dorsum. Following terga in front of pygidium extremely faintly bisinuate at caudal edge and with two striae starting above lateral edge ( Figs 46 , 51 and 54 ). Male pygidium often obviously ( Fig. 50 ), more rarely faintly, concave medially at caudal edge.

Male leg 17 ( Figs 37 and 41 ) particularly strongly reduced, with a low, broad, rounded coxal lobe and a 4- segmented telopodite. Male leg 18 ( Figs 38 and 42 ) less strongly reduced, with an ogival to subtriangular syncoxital notch and a 4-segmented telopodite.

Telopod ( Figs 39, 40 and 43 ) as usual, more strongly robust and incrassate than in the other Taiwanese congeners, with a high, roundly subtrapeziform to subquadrate syncoxital lobe flanked by setose, apically simple horns. Both femur and tibia slightly bulged distally and concave near midway laterally; tibia on caudal face with a small, papillate, microsetose tubercle at base of caudomedial process. Tarsus stout, modestly curved caudad, normally broadly rounded at apex.

MAP. Distribution of Glomerida millipedes in Taiwan. Borderlines show borders between the counties. Filled diamond: Mauriesia splendida sp. nov.

Filled cross: Hyleoglomeris aurata sp. nov.

Filled triangle: Hyleoglomeris sinuata sp. nov.

Filled circle: Hyleoglomeris proximata sp. nov.

Open square: Hyleoglomeris vittata Verhoeff, 1929

Remarks: This species seems to be highly variable in terms of size, coloration, the number of striae on the thoracic shield etc., also being the most widespread amongst the glomerids in Taiwan. Its distribution covers much of the island and vertically ranges from nearly sea-level to above 3,000 m (Map). The richest samples often contain both “albinistic” and “melanistic” variants, with all possible transitions readily discernible as well. Specimens occurring at higher elevations (above or close to 2,000 m a.s.l.) tend to be darker and less vividly coloured than those living below, thus serving as an example of high-mountain melanism so common in various animals.

The only syntype (male) still available in the collection of the Berlin Museum ( Moritz & Fischer, 1974), which was collected as far back as 1909 and described two decades later, at present (a century later) is nearly completely faded and has since lost much of the colour pattern as detailed by Verhoeff (1929). However, brown spots are still visible on some terga ( Figs 44 and 45 ).

Verhoeff (1929), in the original description of H. vittata , states the general coloration in this relatively large species (male 8.5 mm long) as being light grey-yellow with a pattern consisting of transverse, dark brown bands near the caudal edge of all terga. On the midbody terga, these bands are broadened both centrally (to reach the front edge of each tergite) and on paraterga, being narrowed in its lateral 1/3 extent. The collum is mostly dark. The band on the thoracic shield is subfalcate and occupies only its middle third. The band on the pygidium is similar, but much larger, reaching the lateral edges. The collum is with the usual two transverse striae. The thoracic shield is with 8–9 striae, of which six cross the dorsum.

Even though the strongly enlarged telopods of the sole male had a damaged syncoxite, thus preventing its description, the femur showed a rather massive, clearly angular, caudal process, while the tibia a small but distinct tubercle on the caudal face.

The caudal edge of the pygidium in the syntype is broken medially ( Fig. 44 ), so Verhoeff was mistaken in saying it was regularly rounded.

There seem to be no grounds to question the provenance of H. vittata from Taiwan (cf. Korsós 2004), since Verhoeff (1929) explicitly stated he had found a pair of H. vittata specimens admixed among woodlouse material from “Kankan, Formosa, Juli 1909 ”. This material was taken by Hans Sauter, a prominent naturalist who lived in Taiwan from 1902 until his death in 1943 (see Wikipedia). In addition, the type locality “Kankan” is presently the same as the city of Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.

With all this information and material at hand, it was possible to unequivocally find numerous suitable matches to H. vittata amongst our samples, especially among the relatively “albinistic” specimens ( Figs 51– 56 ). At least the relatively large body size, the dark transverse bands, including a complete one on the pygidium and an incomplete, only dorsally present and subfalcate one on the thoracic shield, as well as the particularly strongly incrassate telopods are manifest of the right identity. Verhoeff (1929) must have described this species from already rather strongly faded samples. So the above is a proper redescription of H. vittata as based on fresh abundant materal, including near-topotypes from Kaohsiung County. In addition, it is H. vittata that has recently been documented in a series of photographs taken in Taiwan from live specimens ( Lee and Kou 2009: pp. 44, 92 and 104). Korsós (2004) referred a male and a female from Taroko National Park to a Hyleoglomeris sp.

In sharing a more or less broad, transverse, pale band on the thoracic shield, all of the Hyleoglomeris species from Taiwan clearly belong in the East Asian stuxbergi -group as defined by Golovatch et al. (2006). However, they all differ from their numerous counterparts from Japan and Korea ( Golovatch et al. 2006; Mikhaljova and Lim 2006) in certain minor details of coloration and, often, telopod structure.

Figures

FIGURES 34 – 40. Hyleoglomeris proximata sp. nov., male paratype, and Hyleoglomeris vittata Verhoeff, 1929, male from Taroko National Park. 34 and 37, leg 17; 35 and 38, leg 18; 36, 39 and 40, telopod (caudal, caudal and front views, respectively). Scale bar: 0.2 (34 – 36) and 0.5 mm (37 – 40).

FIGURES 41 – 43. Hyleoglomeris vittata Verhoeff, 1929, male from Taroko National Park. 41, leg 17; 42, leg 18; 43, telopod (front view). Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 44 – 50. Hyleoglomeris vittata Verhoeff, 1929, male syntype (44 and 45) and males from Taroko National Park (46 – 50). Habitus in ventrolateral, dorsolateral, lateral, dorsal, ventral, lateral and ventral views, respectively. Photographed not to scale.

FIGURES 51 – 56. Hyleoglomeris vittata Verhoeff, 1929, male from Yanping (51 – 53) and male from Lienhuachi (54 – 56). Habitus in lateral, dorsal, ventral, lateral, dorsal and ventral views, respectively. Photographed not to scale.