Two new and unusual genera of millipedes (Diplopoda: Polydesmida) from Tasmania, Australia
Author
Mesibov, Robert
text
Zootaxa
2003
368
1
32
journal article
51241
10.5281/zenodo.157087
2e793b2d-9ce7-47f0-8590-69ee8ec38fd2
11755326
157087
Paredrodesmus monticolus
n. sp.
Figs. 6
,
10
,
11
, map
Fig. 12
D
Holotype
: Male, Butlers Gorge,
DP401203
(
42°16’01”S
,
146°16’25”E
),
720m
,
18.ii.1994
,
R. Mesibov
,
QVM 23
:25484.
Paratypes
:
3 males
, details as for
holotype
,
AM
KS86292
;
2 males
, details as for
holotype
,
QVM 23
:41154;
4 males
,
Little Florentine River
, DN525683 (
42°44’10”S
,
146°25’10”E
),
440m
,
13.iii.1986
,
R. Bashford
,
QVM 23
:41148, pitfall, one specimen in fragments.
Other material examined
:
23 males
. See Appendix for details.
Diagnosis
: Distinguished from other
Paredrodesmus
by the unique form of the gonopod.
FIGURE 10.
SEM view of
Paredrodesmus
gonopods
in situ
, anterior to left. (Left)
P. monticolus
n. sp.
, QVM 23:41158; scale bar = 0.5 mm. (Right)
P. purpureus
n. sp.
, QVM 23:41525; scale bar = 0.45 mm, ‘s’ = solenomerite.
Description
: As for the genus. Males
10–12 mm
long, 0.9–1.0 mm in maximum vertical diameter. In alcohol, wellcoloured adults are pale with reddish mottling on distal anntennomeres and metazonites, notably around ozopores. Antennal bases separated by
ca
. 1.25 times a base diameter, antennomere 6 about one and a quarter times the width of 5. Legpairs 6 and 7 with a wide gap between coxae, legpair 5 with a narrower gap, legpair 4 with a small gap; flexed gonopods reach nearly to legpair 4. Genital opening on leg 2 coxa on a prominent mesal projection (
Fig. 6
A). Gonopod aperture with rear margin slightly raised in the middle. Telopodites (
Fig. 10
) closely pressed together but not fused, the contact surfaces flat, the outer surface rounded. Telopodite base small with a few short and long setae; the distal portion of the telopodite (
Fig. 11
) arising medially, first bending cephalad, then curving smoothly caudad before expanding into a broad tip with a slightly rounded distal surface. Prostatic groove running along the mesal surface of the telopodite before turning laterad across the telopodite tip and ending in a very small, bluntly pointed solenomerite situated nearly in the middle of the tip. Arising from the anteromesal corner of the tip is a short, blunt process armed with 10–15 short, laterally directed setae; a cluster of
ca
. 20 variably long, peglike structures, directed proximad and slightly laterad, is attached to the posterolateral corner of the tip.
FIGURE 11.
Lateral view of left gonopod telopodite of
Paredrodesmus monticolus
n. sp.
, QVM 23:41155. Basal setation not shown; dashed line marks course of prostatic groove.
Distribution and habitat
: In wellrotted litter, humus and richly organic soil over
ca
. 11 0 0 0 km
2 in
central
Tasmania
from
150 m
to at least
1250 m
, mainly in wet eucalypt forest and
Nothofagus
rainforest (
Fig. 12
D). Overlaps in range with
P. bicalcar
, cooccurs with
P. taurulus
. An uncommon species.
Etymology
: Latin
monticolus
, mountaindwelling, adjective. This species has mainly been collected at higher elevations.