Brunsonia wenatchee, Shear & Richart & Wong, 2020

Shear, William A., Richart, Casey H. & Wong, Victoria L., 2020, The millipede family Conotylidae in northwestern North America, with a complete bibliography of the family (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida, Heterochordeumatidea, Conotyloidea), Zootaxa 4753 (1), pp. 1-78 : 42

Brunsonia wenatchee , new species

Figs. 159–167

Types: Male holotype, five male and two female paratypes from WASHINGTON: Kittitas Co., Wenatchee National Forest , North Fork Teanaway River at the Stafford Creek confluence, elev. 835 m., 47.3482°N, - 120.8480°W, collected 14 October 2004, by W. Leonard, J. Baugh ( CAS) .

Diagnosis: No other species of Brunsonia has a long, blade-like lateral branch on the coxite of male posterior gonopods; the distal segment of the male posterior gonopod telopodite is shorter than the proximal, which attaches to the coxa by a narrowed stem.

Etymology: The species epithet is a noun in apposition, referring to the type locality in the Wenatchee National Forest, Washington.

Description: Male paratype: Length, 10.0 mm. 22 ocelli in triangular eyepatch. Metazonites with moderately well-developed shoulders on all but 28–30. Color tan, marked with dark purplish brown, marking uniform along trunk. Legpairs one and two reduced, three to seven enlarged, mesal knobs present basally on femora four to six, on femora three lower, basal swellings. Knobs of femora four to six set with small, cuticular teeth ( Figs. 163–167 ). Anterior gonopods ( Figs. 159 , 161 ) slender, acuminate, terminally hooked, with short, posterior subterminal branch finely toothed. Posterior gonopod coxites ( Figs. 160 , 162 ) robust, complex, with lateral blade-like branch, subterminal branch short, ending in tuft of cuticular filaments. Legpair 10 coxae of normal size, with small glands, legpair 11 femora with long, thin, dorsally directed knobs.

Female 6.5 mm long, similar to male in nonsexual characters.

Distribution: Known only from the type locality.

Notes: The anterior gonopod is very unusual for a species of Brunsonia , but the deep pit in the gonopod and the complicated posterior gonopod coxites argue for its placement here. There appears to be a pore enveloped in the posterior, slightly fimbriate branch of the anterior gonopod. We were not able to reliably homologize the processes of the posterior gonopod with the typical pattern (see illustrations of B. albertana , above). More study is required.

Figures

FIGS. 159, 160. Brunsonia wenatchee. Fig. 159. Left anterior gonopod, mesoposterior view. Fig. 160. Right posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view.

FIGS. 161–169. Brunsonia spp. Figs. 161–167. Brunsonia wenatchee. Fig. 161. Anterior gonopods, anterior view. Fig. 162. Left posterior gonopod, posterior view. Figs. 163–167. Male legs 3–7, respectively. Figs. 168, 169. Brunsonia chelanoparva. Fig. 168. Left anterior gonopod, posterior view. Fig. 169. Right posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view.