Pseudodesmus Pocock, 1887

Nguyen, Anh D., Nguyen, Lien T. P. & Korsós, Zoltán, 2024, A review of the millipede genus Pseudodesmus Pocock, 1887 (Diplopoda, Platydesmida, Andrognathidae) from Vietnam, with descriptions of five new species and notes on its phylogeny, Zoosystematics and Evolution 100 (4), pp. 1515-1541 : 1515-1541

Genus Pseudodesmus Pocock, 1887

Type-species.

Pseudodesmus verrucosus Pocock, 1887 , by original designation. Known only from two female specimens from Perak State, Peninsular Malaysia.

Historical diagnosis.

Translated from Latin in Pocock (1887): Platydesmus form. With a long body, bearing a series of tubercles above and keels below on each side. With a number of segments numbering greater than seventy; the last segment posteriorly not sharp; the segments, except for the first and last, bearing keels near the lower part of the side, rising close to level, and with a groove along the middle of the back. Each keel, except the first three, has a repugnatorial pore on the lateral margin. The first four segments have two legs each, the others are equipped with two pairs of legs; the last (and possibly the penultimate) lacking legs. The legs consist of six joints; the last joint of the leg is armed with a claw at the tip. The leg-bearing plates are free. The head is bent under the anterior segments, with a convex front; the anterior margin scarcely produced into a snout. Without eyes. Antennae consist of seven articles; located on the sides of the head; the last article being the smallest. The mandibles are hidden. The gnathochilarium is prominent; with large stipes; the jaws and cardines are not conspicuous; there are no lobes on the small, thin lamellae linguales; the mentum is hammer-shaped and large.

According to Wesener (2015), the genus can be recognized by the following characters: “ Colour variable. Trunk wide, paraterga strongly elongated. Body length up to 60 mm, with 66–76 body rings. Collum with tubercles. Tergites densely pilose, strongly sculptured, with several smaller and one row of larger tubercles. Larger tubercles sometimes forming a ridge or resembling conic spines ”.

Remarks.

The genus has been found only in Southeast Asia, but has been poorly studied. Since the description of its last species, Pseudodesmus persimilis ( Attems, 1953) , there has been very little taxonomic information about the genus.