Picea (Nomarchus) mediterraneus, Daday, 1889

Golovatch, Sergei, Evsyukov, Aleksandr & Reip, Hans, 2016, The millipede family Polydesmidae in the Caucasus (Diplopoda: Polydesmida), Zootaxa 4085 (1), pp. 1-51 : 11

Polydesmus (Nomarchus) mediterraneus Daday, 1889

Fig. 5 , Map 1

Polydesmus mediterraneus oertzeni— Talikadze, 1984: 143 (R).

Material examined. 3 males, 9 females ( ZMUM), ABKHAZIA, Sukhumi Distr., Yashtukha , tree nursery, 29.III.1986, leg. A. Markossian ; 2 subadult females ( ZMUM), Sukhumi Botanical Garden , litter, 2.X.1978 ; 1 male (slide only) ( ZMUM), same locality 9.X.1978; all leg. S. Golovatch.

Descriptive notes. Length ca 8 – 16 mm, width of midbody metazonae 1.5 – 2.0 mm (male, female), metazonite to prozonite width ratio <1.6 ( Fig. 5A ). Live coloration usually uniformly light brown to brown, about same as in alcohol ( Fig. 5A ).

All characters as in P. abchasius ( Fig. 5 ), except as follows. Collum much narrower than head, transversely oval in shape ( Fig. 5A ). Paraterga not upturned, subhorizontal, much more strongly rounded laterally, at least until segment 9 obtuse-angled and drawn behind rear tergal margin starting with segment 14 or 15 ( Fig. 5A ). Male prefemora strongly bulging laterad ( Fig. 5B ). Gonopod ( Fig. 5C ) with a stout and stump-shaped endomere (en) and only a slightly curved and apically strongly bifid exomere (ex).

Remarks. The only previous record in the region ( Talikadze 1984) concerned “ Abkhazia ”, without a precise locality. This eastern Mediterranean species/subspecies is quite common in the adjacent Crimea, apparently being introduced to the Caucasus. New illustrations are provided to facilitate recognition ( Fig. 5 ).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Polydesmus mediterraneus Daday, 1889: A: male from Gurzuf, Crimea, habitus, dorsal view. B – C: male from Yashtukha, Abkhazia, leg 7, lateral view, and left gonopod, mesal view, respectively. Designations: en, endomere, ex, exomere. Picture A by K. Makarov. Scale bars: 0.2 mm (B), 0.1 mm (C), not to scale (A).