Tholerosoma monteithi, Mesibov, Robert, 2006

Mesibov, Robert, 2006, Dirt-encrusted and dragon millipedes (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae) from Queensland, Australia, Zootaxa 1354, pp. 31-44 : 38-41

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.174573

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6261705

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038D879B-2468-FF8E-FEC0-FEB27F88FE72

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Tholerosoma monteithi
status

sp. nov.

Tholerosoma monteithi View in CoL n. sp.

Figs. 3 View FIGURE 3 , 4 View FIGURE 4 , 5 View FIGURE 5 A, 5D, 5E, 6B; map Fig. 7 View FIGURE 7

Holotype: Male , Downey Creek Road , Palmerston National Park, 17°36’30"S 145°46’E, 30.xi.1992 – 15.iv.1993, R. & S. Raven, P. & E. Lawless, pitfall NQ11a, QM S73973 . GoogleMaps

Paratypes: 2 males, 1 female, details as for holotype, QM S73974 View Materials GoogleMaps ; 3 males, Bluewater Range , 45 km WNW of Townsville, 19°12’S 146°24’E, 600–700 m, 6–8.xii.1986, G. Monteith, G. Thompson & S. Hamlet, QM S73975 View Materials GoogleMaps ; male, Bluewater Range, 45 km WNW of Townsville, 19°12’S 146°24’E, 750 m, 7.xii.1986 – 16.ii.1987, G. Monteith, G. Thompson & S. Hamlet, rainforest, pitfall traps, QM S73976 View Materials GoogleMaps .

Other material examined: QM: female, Upper Boulder Creek via Tully, 17°50’S 145°54’E, 900 m, 25–27.x.1983, G. Monteith, D. Yeates & G. Thompson, QM S73977 View Materials ; GoogleMaps male, Mt Macalister area , Cardwell Range, 18°18’S 145°57’E, 900–1000 m, 18–19.xii.1986, G. Monteith, G. Thompson & S. Hamlet, rainforest, QM S73978 View Materials ; GoogleMaps 2 males, Mt Graham , 8 km N of Abergowrie, 18°25’S 145°52’E, 600–700 m, 26–30.xii.1986, S. Hamlet, rainforest, QM S73979 View Materials ; GoogleMaps female, stadium VII male, stadium VII female, Downey Creek , 25 km SE of Millaa Millaa, 17°39’S 145°47’E, 400 m, 7.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 813, QM S73980 View Materials ; GoogleMaps female, Bartle Frere Track , 17 km W of Malanda, 17°23’S 145°47’E, 700 m, 8.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, QM S73981 View Materials ; GoogleMaps 2 females, Upper Mulgrave Road , Kearneys Falls, 17°14’S 145°47’E, 100 m, 10.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, QM S73982 View Materials ; GoogleMaps male, Lamb Range , 19 km SE of Mareeba, 17°07’S 145°34’E, 1100–1200 m, 11.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, QM S73983 View Materials ; GoogleMaps female, 2 km SE of Mt Spurgeon, via Carbine , 16°27’S 145°12’E, 1100 m, 20–21.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, ex QMS18018 , QM S73984 View Materials ; GoogleMaps female, Tully Falls Road , 10 km S of Ravenshoe, 17°43’S 145°31’E, 900 m, 8.xii.1989, G. Monteith, G. Thompson & H. Janetzki, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 831, QM S73985 View Materials ; GoogleMaps 2 females, Mt Lewis Road , 25 km from highway, 16°32’S 145°17’E, 14.i.1990, ANZSES personnel, QM S73986 View Materials ; GoogleMaps female, Mt Lewis Road, end , 10 km N of Mt Lewis, 16°29’S 145°15’E, 1100 m, 25.xi.1990, G. Monteith, G. Thompson, D. Cook, R. Sheridan & H. Janetzki, QM S73987 View Materials ; GoogleMaps female , Pauls Luck , Carbine Tableland, 16°26’S 145°15’E, 1100 m, 28–30.xi.1990, G. Monteith, H. Janetzki & D. Cook, pitfall traps, QM S73988 View Materials ; GoogleMaps male, Pauls Luck , Carbine Tableland, 16°26’S 145°15’E, 1100 m, 28–30.xi.1990, G. Monteith, G. Thompson, D. Cook, R. Sheridan & H. Janetzki, QM S73989 View Materials ; GoogleMaps stadium VII male, Mt Halifax, summit , 19°07’S 145°23’E, 1050 m, 21.iii.–10.v.1991, D. Cook, pitfalls & intercepts, ex QMS41245 , QM S73990 View Materials ; GoogleMaps female, above Kearneys Falls , 17°14’S 145°47’E, 550 m, 12.x.1991, G. Monteith, H. Janetzki & D. Cook, QM S73991 View Materials ; GoogleMaps female, Mt Halcyon , 16°03’S 145°25’E, 870 m, 22–24.xi.1993, G. Monteith, D. Cook, H. Janetzki & L. Roberts, QM S73992 View Materials ; GoogleMaps male, Maalan State Forest on highway , 17°35’S 145°35’E, 850 m, 25.xi.1994 – 10.i.1995, G. Monteith & J. Hasenpusch, rainforest, intercept, QM S38942 View Materials ; GoogleMaps female, Josephine Falls , 17°26’S 145°51’E, 200 m, 19.iv.1997, G. Monteith & Russell, QM S40078 View Materials ; GoogleMaps 3 females, Mt Lewis Road , 22 km from highway, 16°33’S 145°17’E, 1000 m, 29.xi.1997, G. Monteith & D. Cook, sample 1668, QM S35901 View Materials ; GoogleMaps 2 stadium VII females, Mt Lewis Road , 29 km from highway, 16°31’S 145°16’E, 1210 m, 29.xi.1997, D. Cook, rainforest, leaf litter, QM berlesate 964, QM S35904 View Materials GoogleMaps .

ANIC: female, 2 km N by E of Mt TipTree , 17°03’S 144°37’E, 800 m, 1.iv.1984, A. Calder & T. Weir, rainforest, ANIC berlesate 950, ANIC 64–000016 View Materials GoogleMaps ; female, Mt Spec S1 , 19°00’S 146°11’E, 875 m, 4.xi.–1.xii.1994, M. Cermak, pitfalls, ANIC 64–000017 View Materials GoogleMaps ; male, Mt Spec S1 , 19°00’S 146°11’E, 875 m, 6.xii.1994 – 10.i.1995, M. Cermak, pitfall A2, ANIC 64-000018 View Materials GoogleMaps ; female, Mt Spec S1 , 19°00’S 146°11’E, 875 m, 9.iii.–6.iv ..1995, M. Cermak, pitfall A2, ANIC 64-000019 View Materials GoogleMaps ; male, Mt Spec S1, 19° 00’S 146°11’E, 875 m, 9.iii.–6.iv ..1995, M. Cermak, pitfall B2, ANIC 64-000020 View Materials GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis: Distinguished from T. corrugatum by having anterior and posterior pairs of paramedian swellings on metatergites; distal portion of gonopod telopodite not curving towards base; and plate-like structures covering spiracle surface.

Description: Male/female approximate measurements: length to 25/ 27 mm, maximum vertical diameter to 2.0/2.2 mm, maximum width across paranota to 2.6/3.0 mm. Ground colour in alcohol variable, tan to chestnut brown. Integument finely rugose on all surfaces carrying a coating of dirt. Head slightly wider than collum; vertigial sulcus well impressed to level of top of antennal sockets; sockets only slightly impressed ventrolaterally, separated by about one socket diameter; clypeus sparsely setose with long setae, vertex bare. Antenna ( Fig. 5 View FIGURE 5 D) relatively short; antennomeres 3–5 nearly equal in length and diameter; antennomere 2 longer, antennomere 6 longest and widest. Collum in dorsal view semicircular, corners bluntly rounded and tilted upwards; 6 small, low, rounded swellings near anterior margin, 2 larger paramedian swellings near posterior margin. Overall widths of rings 2–4 about equal to collum width; ring 5 wider, ring widths very slightly and gradually increasing to ring 17. Lateral, anterior margin of ring 2 metazonite produced slightly to form a partial collar for head. Waist pronounced, with deep longitudinal corrugations ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 F). Prozonites with rough texture; at high magnification, covered with minute, blunt, processes pointed posteriorly ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 D). Metazonite surface with cellular texture, thrown into small, sharp-edged, irregular folds ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 E). Metatergites with 2 sets of paired paramedian swellings ( Figs. 3 View FIGURE 3 A, 3B), one anterior and one posterior to faintly indicated transverse furrow; posterior swellings the largest, sometimes raised as thick “fins”, generally increasing very slightly in size from rings 2 to 17; small, low lateral swellings sometimes present on metatergites as well. Paranota ( Figs. 3 View FIGURE 3 A–C) on all rings wide, inflated, tilted slightly upwards; anterior and posterior corners thick, rounded and blunt; margin with variably pronounced median indentation. Spiracles large, protruding, the surface composed of minute, slightly separated plates overlying a dense mass of extremely minute, bluntly pointed processes ( Fig. 6 View FIGURE 6 B); anterior spiracle on diplosegments larger than posterior spiracle. Ozopore a simple pore opening ventrolaterally near posterior corner of paranotum; pore formula 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15–19. Sternites apparently bare, slightly wider than long, with only a faint transverse impression. Limbus minutely serrate.

Legs ( Fig. 5 View FIGURE 5 E) long, slender; femur the longest podomere, tarsus about three-quarters femur length, claw small; leg setae mainly coarse and blunt. Pre-anal ring ( Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 B) with a few long, thick setae; epiproct thick, blunt, rounded, extending well past anal valves; hypoproct trapezoidal; spinnerets ( Adis et al. 2000) in square array.

Male with gonopore on short cone medially and distally on leg 2 coxa, no process on leg 1 femur. Ring 5 sternal lamella (between legs 4) short, narrow with shallow marginal indentation, posterior surface bare with 2 large pores on slight eminences. Gonopods ( Figs. 4 View FIGURE 4 A, 5A) in situ reaching leg 6 bases. Aperture only slightly constricted anteriorly by median tooth on rim. Gonocoxae fairly short, with broad indentation on anterior surface basally and a few long setae on anterior surface distally. Cannula prominent, inserting medially at base of telopodite. Basal portion of telopodite (“prefemur”) densely setose with long setae on posteromedial corner, a few shorter setae on posterodistal surface; triangular in shape in posterior view, the triangle base being the flat medial surface, the distal corner slightly overlapping base of distal portion of telopodite on posterior side.

Distal portion bare, unbranched, subcylindrical, curving anterolaterally from slight medial shoulder at base, then posteromedially, bending abruptly laterally at about four-fifths of the telopodite height and curving 180° medially, then tapering, curving posteriorly and terminating in slightly expanded, flattened, forked tip. Prostatic groove following the curves and bends of the distal portion to the tip of the latter.

Female without extension of rim of epigynum; cyphopods not examined.

Distribution and habitat: Known from 23 sites in tropical rainforest from the Daintree area north of Cairns to the Bluewater Range near Townsville in north Queensland, an approximate linear range of 400 km and an elevation range of 100–1210 m. Sympatric with T. corrugatum in the Bluewater Range.

Etymology: In honour of Geoff Monteith, Curator of Insects at the Queensland Museum, 1978–2006.

Remarks: This species varies considerably in overall size over its geographical range, e.g. male length 18–25 mm. The pattern of curves in the gonopod telopodite is constant in the specimens examined, but in some males the terminal curve (after the abrupt lateral bend) lies in a plane perpendicular to the telopodite long axis, while in other males the terminal curve spirals distally. There is also substantial variation in size and prominence of the metatergite swellings, in how much the paranota are inflated, and in the prominence of the indentation in the paranotal margin. Variation in these metazonite features is often obscured by the coating of dirt, but there seems to be a geographical trend, with metatergite swellings larger in the south of the T. monteithi range. In a male from the Mt Macalister area (QM S73978 View Materials ), the paranota are relatively thin, deeply indented marginally and elevated at ca. 45°, but the gonopod is typical. In a male from Mt Graham (QM S73979 View Materials ), the marginal indentation in the ring 5 sternal lamella is barely detectable.

QM

Australia, Queensland, South Brisbane, Queensland Museum

ANIC

Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Canberra City, CSIRO, Australian National Insect Collection

QM

Queensland Museum

ANIC

Australian National Insect Collection

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