Solaenodolichopus sulcatus ( Verhoeff, 1928 )

Mesibov, Robert, 2014, The millipede genus Solaenodolichopus Verhoeff, 1924 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae). 1. New genus diagnosis and redescriptions of named species, European Journal of Taxonomy 83, pp. 1-36 : 20-23

Solaenodolichopus sulcatus ( Verhoeff, 1928)

Figs 2C , 9

Paraulacoporus sulcatus Verhoeff, 1928: 93 (first description); fig. 11 in pl. 7.

Solaenodolichopus sulcatus – Jeekel 2000: 41 (new combination), 42, 43 (redescription from new material); figs 3-5 (p. 48) (see taxonomic notes, below). — Nguyen & Sierwald 2013: 1160.

Paraulacoporus sulcatus – Verhoeff 1932: fig. 969 (p. 1577).

Aulacoporus sulcatus – Attems 1937: 261 (new combination), 262 ( Verhoeff’s 1928 description reworded); fig. 326 (p. 262; same as fig. 11 in Verhoeff 1928). — Jeekel 1968: 18, 29; 1981: 49.

Material examined

Lectotype (here designated)

Male in alcohol with original Verhoeff label, broken between rings 8 and 9 and rings 11 and 12, North Dorrigo, NSW [30°16’ S, 152°41’ E, ± 5 km], 4 Jan. 1923, A. Musgrave, AM KS.76503 (formerly K47706 ).

Paralectotype

1 male, details as for lectotype, not located (see taxonomic notes, below).

Other material

NEW SOUTH WALES: 1 ♂, Dorrigo [30°19’ S, 152°43’ E, ± 5 km], W. Heron, no date, SAM (specimen missing; described in Jeekel 2000); 1 ♂, Upper Styx State Forest - Petroi Forest [30°40’S 152°08’E ± 10 km], 29 Jan. 1975, P. Johns and R. Killip, Nothofagus moorei forest, QM S75836; 1 ♂, Bruxner Forest Park, Coffs Harbour [30°’41” S, 153°06’03” E, ± 2 km], 22 Mar.–13 Nov. 1980 [pitfall?], G. Monteith, sample GM 104 A/1, QM S75837; 1 ♂, Leagues Scrub Flora Reserve, Oakes State Forest, 30°36’ S, 152°32’ E [± 2 km], 780 m, 20–21 Dec. 1998, D. Bickel, yellow pan, rainforest, AM KS.77379.

Description

As for the genus. Maximum midbody width ca. 5.0 mm. Colour in alcohol: “Body brownish black, greyish-yellow on the abdomen, back with rather broad yellowish median band, which continues over the pro- and meta-zonites [sic] to the telson. Legs black, brownish on the joints” ( Verhoeff 1928: 93); lectotype colour now faded, prozonites light brown, metazonites and legs yellowish, pale mid-dorsal longitudinal band ca. 1/5 maximum ring width at midbody; more recent specimens also faded, patchy brown with pale mid-dorsal band as in lectotype.

Male lectotype with distinct transverse furrow on metazonites, stopping a little above level of ozopore ( Fig. 9A ). Distinct longitudinal furrows on diplosegments ( Fig. 9A ) to ring 15, rising slightly anteriorly, opening dorsally with very slight bulges below; furrow just above ozopore on pore-bearing rings. Sternal lamella ( Fig. 2C ) rounded-rectangular, distal margin very slightly convex. Scopulae on legs 1 to legs of ring 14 (lectotype) or 15 or 16 (other males examined). Leg bases on ring 6 separated a little more than on ring 5; leg bases with normal separation on ring 8. Anterior margin of aperture more or less straight with small, rounded-triangular, medial extension.

(Gonopod description based on lectotype and other males.) Gonocoxa a little more than 1/2 telopodite length, slightly flattened anteroposteriorly and slightly concave anteriorly, with sparse, long setae anterodistally. Cannula short, narrow, uniformly tapering towards prefemur. Gonopod telopodite ( Fig. 9 B-H) reaching leg 6 bases when retracted. Prefemur small, rounded, densely setose posteromedially, demarcated from femorite laterally by small, narrow notch. Remainder of telopodite more or less straight, slender, clearly divided into femorite and solenomere at just over 1/2 telopodite length. Femorite slightly flattened anteroposteriorly, slightly concave posteriorly in lateral view, parallel-sided in posterior view, apically a little thickened posteriorly. Femorite processes both about 1/3 solenomere length, tapering with rounded tips; lateral process curving a little anterolaterally, medial process curving a little anteriorly. Solenomere ca. 2/3 femorite width at base, curving slightly anterolaterally, then posteromedially, flattened to form trough-like hollow, concave posteromedially; basal half of anterior margin of hollow produced mediodistally as large, flat, extension with tapering, rounded tip at ca. 3/4 solenomere height; distomedially curving solenomere apex deeply notched to form rounded posterior point separate from anteroposteriorly flattened anterior margin of hollow, the latter produced apically as thin, subtrapezoidal tab, its medial margin roundly emarginate. Prostatic groove ( Fig. 9F ) running on anterior surface of telopodite, following curve of solenomere to basal corner of subapical, anterior margin tab, bending distally at right angle and opening at distal corner of tab.

Female not yet recognised.

Distribution

Rainforest (and eucalypt forest?) in northeast NSW from the Coffs Harbour area inland towards Armidale, an east-west extent of ca. 90 km, at elevations to at least 780 m a.s.l. (map Fig. 12 ). Overlaps in range with S. walesius .

Taxonomic notes

Verhoeff (1928: 94) reported that he examined two males, but I have not located a second specimen. The lectotype vial contains a label with ‘LECTOPARATYPE / ♂ P.M. Johns / 19.xii.67’, suggesting that Johns may have found another male or slide mount of male parts and labelled it ‘lectotype’; this lectotypification has not been published.

In fig. 11 of Verhoeff (1928), reproduced here as Fig. 9D , the rounded posterior process at the solenomere apex is shown as apically notched. This appears to be an error, as the process is not notched at its tip in the lectotype or any of the other three available S. sulcatus males. Jeekel (2000) described a fourth male, from Dorrigo (NSW); his gonopod illustration (Jeekel’s fig. 5: 48) also shows the posterior process without a notch. The Dorrigo male was borrowed from SAM but is currently missing from the Museum collection (K. Sparks, in litt., 2 Jan. 2014).

General notes

The collector of the types Anthony Musgrave (1895-1959) worked as an entomologist at the Australian Museum from 1920 until his death (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/musgrave-anthony-7716; accessed 30 Dec. 2013). He specialised in the taxonomy of arachnids, Diptera and Hemiptera, and is best known as the compiler of a monumental bibliography of Australian entomology ( Musgrave 1932). Musgrave’s 1923 North Dorrigo trip also yielded the types of S. walesius Verhoeff, 1928 (see below).

See also the general notes for S. rubriventris (above).

Figures

Fig. 2. Posterior views of sternal lamella in ♂♂. — A. Solaenodolichopus pruvoti (Brolemann, 1931), QM S74856. — B. S. rubriventris Verhoeff, 1928, QM S74690. — C. S. sulcatus (Verhoeff, 1928), lectotype, AM KS.76503. — D. S. teres (Verhoeff, 1924), lectotype in alcohol, ZSM A20052188. — E. S. vittatus (Verhoeff, 1924), QM S74829. — F. S. walesius Verhoeff, 1928, lectotype, AM KS.76508. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

Fig. 9. Solaenodolichopus sulcatus (Verhoeff, 1928) ♂. A. Right lateral view of midbody rings, AM KS.77379. B–C. Lateral (B) and posterior (C) views of gonopods in situ, lectotype, AM KS.76503. D. Posterior and slightly medial view of right gonopod solenomere, possibly of missing paralectotype, from fig. 11 in Verhoeff (1928). E–H. Lateral (E), anterior (F), medial (G) and posterior (H) views of left gonopod solenomere, QM S75836. Arrows in A point to longitudinal grooves, dotted line in F marks course of prostatic groove. Scale bars: A–C = 2 mm, D–H = 1 mm.

Fig. 12. Localities for named Solaenodolichopus species as of February 2014. — A. Australia showing location of map B (rectangle). — B. S. teres (Verhoeff, 1924) (star), S. sulcatus (Verhoeff, 1928) (crosses) and S. walesius Verhoeff, 1928 (open triangles), other species (filled squares); rectangle shows location of map C. — C. S. pruvoti (Brolemann, 1931) (open squares), S. rubriventris Verhoeff, 1928 (crosses) and S. vittatus (Verhoeff, 1924) (open triangles). Maps A–C are geographic projections; approximate north-south map extents are 900 km for B and 220 km for C.