Kebodesmus Mesibov & Rodriguez, 2020

Mesibov, Robert & Rodriguez, Juanita, 2020, A new genus and species of narrow-range millipede (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Dalodesmidae) from Tasmania, Australia, ZooKeys 966, pp. 1-8 : 1

Kebodesmus Mesibov & Rodriguez gen. nov.

Type species.

Kebodesmus zonarius sp. nov., by present designation.

Other assigned species.

None.

Diagnosis.

Closely similar in general appearance to species of Paredrodesmus Mesibov, 2003, but distinguished from Paredrodesmus species in having H+20 body plan rather than H+19; normal pore formula rather than 5, 7-18; sphaerotrichomes on legs rather than no sphaerotrichomes; dorsal spinnerets within depression below epiproct tip rather than on epiproct rim; and a phenolic defensive secretion rather than no odour detectable from living specimens. Distinguished from all other Tasmanian Dalodesmidea (apart from Paredrodesmus ) by the complete absence of paranota or traces of paranota on the diplosegments, and by the deep division of the gonopod telopodite.

Description.

As for the type species.

Name.

In honour of Kevin Bonham (Ke - bo), Tasmanian naturalist, collector and identifier, who emailed the senior author in May 2020 to say he had collected a millipede "whose gonopods I couldn’t even remotely match to anything".

Remarks.

In gonopod structure Kebodesmus gen. nov. is unlike any of the undescribed Dalodesmidae so far examined in mainland Australian collections, and unlike any of the New Zealand Dalodesmidae described by Johns (1964, 1970). The gonopod in the new species is similar to that of Abatodesmus velosoi Demange & Silva, 1971, a H+20 dalodesmid from the Cordillera de Nahuelbuta in southern Chile, but differs in having the solenomere base clearly separated from the other telopodite processes.