Haplogonopus inflatannulus Verhoeff

Hoffman, Richard L., 2011, A review of the milliped genus Haplogonopus with commentary on the so-called “ Charactopygus-Bildung ” modification of spirostreptid paraprocts (Diplopoda: Spirostreptidae), Zootaxa 2734, pp. 53-62 : 55

Haplogonopus inflatannulus Verhoeff

Figures 1–6

Haplogonopus inflatannulus Verhoeff, 1941 , Jenaische Zeitschr. Naturw., 73: 265, figs. 45–47. Male holotype (Zoologisches Staatssammlung München) from “...dem Gebirge bei Morogoro am Tanganyikasee...” [=North Uluguru Mountains, Morogoro Region and District, Tanzania], W. V. Harris leg.

Spirostreptus nebularius Kraus, 1958 , Veröff. Überseemus. Bremen, A, 3: 10, text fig. 2, pl. 3, figs. 27–29. Male holotype (Überseemuseum Bremen) from Lukwangule Peak, Uluguru Mountains, Morogoro Region and District, Tanzania, H. Knipper leg. 2 July 1952. New synonymy.

Spirostreptus inflatannulus: Krabbe, 1982 , Abh. Naturw. Ver. Hamburg, NF 24: 204.

Spirostreptus nebularius: Krabbe, 1982 , Abh. Naturw. Ver. Hamburg, NF 24: 207.

Haplogonopus inflatannulus: Hoffman, 1993 , in: Biogeography and Ecology of the Rain Forests of Eastern Africa, p. 106.

Material. TANZANIA: Morogoro Region and District: Northern Uluguru Mountains: Lupanga Peak West, 1800 m, 1 July 1981, Nikolaj Scharff and Michael Stoltze, 6 3, 2 Ƥ ( ZMUC); north slope of Lupanga, 11 January 1980, S. N. Stuart & T. van der Willigen, 1Ƥ ( VMNH); in forest near Morningside, 23 December 1973, K. M. Howell et al., 5 3 ( VMNH); Morningside, 27 April 1980, K. M. Howell, 13 ( VMNH). Southern Uluguru Mountains: Hululu Falls, Mgeta River valley south of Bunduki, 6000 ft asl, 16 November 1979, W. A. Rodgers & K. Bulstrode, 13 ( VMNH), also 13, 1Ƥ, date and collector not specified ( VMNH); Bondwa Mountain, Uluguru Forest Reserve, 24 April 1980, J. Kielland, 13 ( VMNH); 2 February 1982, Kielland, 1Ƥ ( VMNH).

Diagnosis. Distinguished from the two known congeneric species (and other Tanzanian spirostreptids) by its larger size, elevated, orange-red metazona, and unmodified paraprocts.

Descriptive notes. Male diameter to 6.5 mm, female to 9 mm, female length to about 110 mm. Front of head smooth and convex, unmodified, ocellaria elongate-triangular, about as long as interocellarial space. Mandibular basomere with distal projection ( Fig. 2 ).. Elevated part of metazona orange to light brown, prozona grayish, in preserved specimens, legs yellow. Postfemoral and tibial pads of male small, diminishing posterior to gonopods, scarcely evident posterior to legs of 25th segement. Sigilla small, generally bacilliform but highly variable, dispersed as an irregular belt over anterior two-thirds of pigmented metazonal surface. Paraprocts strongly convex, the caudal edges virtually immarginate, no trace of fossae or diastemma. Hypoproct short, transversely elongated.

Coxae of 1st pair of legs medially coalesced with only a trace of suture line on posterior side, this syncoxa only slightly prolonged laterad beyond base of prefemora. Sternum of these legs with distinct stigmata.

Remarks. Although I have not examined the type material of either inflatannulus or nebularius , the original accounts of these names leave no doubt of their actual identity, as further substantiated by the study of topotypic specimens.

The legs of the first pair are of the conventional spirostreptid form, prefemoral lobes relatively small and subtriangular, but of interest by the presence of a transverse sclerite ( Fig. 4 ,?) subtending the syncoxon on the posterior side.. Whether this is merely the detatched continuation of the sternum or an intercalary element between the 1st and 2nd leg pairs could not be established with the material at my disposal.

General uniformly within the several samples available for study suggest that apparently the Uluguru Mountains are not extensive or fragmented enough to have engendered any local diversification (although only a few specimens originated in the southern component of the range). Segment counts (including collum but not the epiproct) range between 47 and 51 (avg. 48.7) in 14 males, and 48–51 (avg. 50.2) in five females. Gonopods show what appears to be only minor individual variation.

The gonopods of inflatannulus are so similar to those of jeanneli that I initially suspected that the latter was a synonym based on specimens transported from the Ulugurus into Kenya in plant material although the virtual absence of commerce between Kenya and Tanganyika in the early colonial period seemed to militate against such an option. My colleague J.-P. Mauriès examined the type specimen of jeanneli and reported that the metazona are absolutely flat and smooth, confirming the status of jeanneli as a valid species, as do additional characters mentioned in the following accounts. This, with another “smooth-bodied” species discovered in southern Tanzania, gives the impression of a fragmented generic range resulting from late Tertiary climatic changes, and the evolution of singular peripheral characters in the Uluguru isolate. Such a scenario evokes the possibility, even liklihood, that additional highly localized species may yet be discovered in, e.g., the Usambara or Nguru mountains.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. Haplogonopus inflatannulus Verhoeff., structural features. 1. Gnathochilarium and adjacent parts of mandibles and collum. 2. Right mandible, posterior aspect, with distal lobe of basomere indicated by the ↔. 3. First pair of legs of male, syncoxa, sternum, and basal podomeres, anterior aspect. 4. The same, posterior aspect, sclerite of uncertain identity indicated by the? 5. Dorsal half of three midbody segments, lateral aspect, showing convex metazona with ovoid depressions.

FIGURES 6 – 9. Haplogonopus, gonopod structure of three species. 6. H. inflatannulus, right gonopod, anterior aspect. 7. H. jeanneli, left gonopod, anterior aspect (adapted from Brolemann, 1920). 8. H. cingulatus, right gonopod, anterior aspect. 9. Midlength section of posttorsal telopodite, enlarged, to show form of cingulum. Abbreviations: a, apicomedial process of proplica; atp, antetorsal process of telopodite, mp, distal end of metaplica.