Chaleponcus quasimodo, Enghoff, 2014

Enghoff, Henrik, 2014, A mountain of millipedes I: An endemic species-group of the genus Chaleponcus Attems, 1914, from the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida, Odontopygidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 100, pp. 1-75 : 23-25

Chaleponcus quasimodo sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:37A2F533-120D-45C5-8C49-B77A4C2DA088

Figs 9 , 13

Diagnosis

Medium-sized. Differs from all other group members except C. dabagaensis by the ‘hunch-backed’ profile of the gonopod coxa ( Fig. 9 ); differs from C. dabagaensis by the profile of the coxal tip and by the absence of a thumblike process on the main stem of the telomere.

Etymology

The name is a noun, here in apposition, and refers to Quasimodo, the hunch-back of Notre-Dame, title figure of the novel by Victor Hugo (1839).

Material studied (total: 9 ♂♂)

Holotype

TANZANIA: ♂, Iringa Region, Mufindi District, Udzungwa Mts, Kigogo FR, 1700 m, 8–10 Oct. 1984, pitfall traps in montane rain forest. N. Scharff leg. ( ZMUC).

Paratypes

All from TANZANIA, Iringa Region, Mufindi District, Udzungwa Mts, Kigogo FR, all in ZMUC: 1 ♂, 1700 m, 8–10 Oct. 1984, pitfall traps in montane rain forest. N. Scharff leg.; 7 ♂♂, 1900 m, 7–15 Oct. 1984, pitfall traps in montane rain forest. N. Scharff leg.

Type locality

TANZANIA, Iringa Region, Mufindi District, Udzungwa Mts, Kigogo FR, 1700 m, montane rain forest.

Description (male)

DIAMETER. 2.1–2.3 mm, 47–49 podous rings.

COLOUR. After 30 years in alcohol almost completely bleached, with traces of paramedian darker bands flanking a broad middorsal light stripe, sometimes a thin dark line in middle of stripe.

ANAL VALVES. Each with a long, slightly curving dorsal spine and a small, triangular ventral one; marginal rim raised, setiferous tubercles on small ‘ravelins’.

LIMBUS. With broadly rounded lobes, as long as broad or slightly longer, striate on outer surface.

TARSAL SETATION. Normal.

GONOPOD COXA ( Figs 9 , 13 ). About 3 × as long as wide. Lateral margin straight up to level of ms, then curving mesad and then lateral, leaving a deep, rounded incision and giving the entire coxa a ‘hunchback’ profile; apical margin slightly convex, irregularly undulate, forming ca. 70° angles with lateral margin. Mesal margin of proplica with two mesad processes apically, one above, one below metaplical shelf-spine (mss). Metaplical flange (mf) ending in approximately right-angled-rounded corner, hardly projecting; metaplical mesal margin with rounded-triangular process (mp) just below level of arculus, distally with triangular incision with coarsely nodose margin. Metaplical shelf (ms) of moderate size, projecting slightly posteriad as well as mesad, continuing without transition in metaplical shelf-spine (mss); mss of medium length, curving obliquely basad.

GONOPOD TELOPODITE ( Fig. 13 ). Solenomere with medium long, almost straight proximal spine (ps). Telomere distally with two relatively small and simple branches:

• an anterior lamella (al),

• a posterior lamella (pl).

Distribution and habitat

Known only from Kigogo FR, Udzungwa Mts. Altitudinal range: 1700–1900 m. Habitat: montane rain forest.

Coexisting species

All four species known from Kigogo FR, i.e., C. quasimodo sp. nov., C. scopus sp. nov., C. howelli sp. nov. and C. mwabvui sp. nov., were found in the same samples.

Figures

Fig. 9. Chaleponcus spp., outline of coxite of left gonopod, posterior view. (The ’transverse’ plane of the gonopod is usually slightly at angles with the exact transverse plane of the millipede, so it may be necessary to tilt the gonopod slightly in order to obtain the view shown on the drawings.) The stippled lines indicate the place where the telopodital basomere emerges from the coxal cavity. Not to scale.

Fig. 13. Chaleponcus quasimodo sp. nov., left gonopod. A. Anterior view. B. Anterior-mesal view. C. Ventral view. D. Posterior view. al = anterior lamella of telomere, mf = metaplical flange, mp = mesal metaplical process, ms = metaplical shelf, mss = metaplical shelf-spine, pl = posterior lamella of telomere, ps = proximal spine of solenomere. Scales 0.1 mm.