The millipede genus Tasmaniosoma Verhoeff, 1936 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Dalodesmidae) from Tasmania, Australia, with descriptions of 18 new species
Author
Mesibov, Robert
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Australia
text
ZooKeys
2010
2010-03-26
41
4
31
80
journal article
22685
10.3897/zookeys.41.420
ea2c4da4-3899-41cd-80f4-b7df9302da79
1313–2970
576649
FC5CFE57-05F9-4685-BC02-BB82AB9E4894
Tasmaniosoma
compitale
sp. n.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:
B431F3B4-C271-4396-8ADB-8D56E804C2E7
Figs 1C, 1G, 4A, 13; map
Fig. 23
Holotype
.
Male
,
Australia
,
Tasmania
,
Deep Gully Creek
,
41°25'02"S
145°35'43"E
(
CQ
825138
) ±
100 m
,
610 m
,
13 October 1991
,
R
. Mesibov,
QVM 23
:45968.
Paratypes
.
1 female
, details as for
holotype
,
QVM 23
:45969
;
1 male
, same details but
14 October 1991
,
QVM 23
:45970
;
1 female
, same details but
18 October 1991
,
QVM 23
:45971
;
1 female
, same details but
24 October 1991
,
QVM 23
:45974
;
1 male
, Fingerpost, Tas,
41°24'37"S
145°37'44"E
(
CQ
853146
) ±
100 m
,
610 m
,
17 September 1991
,
R
. Mesibov,
QVM 23
:45955
;
2 females
, same details,
QVM 23
:45956
;
Figure |3.
Tasmaniosoma compitale
sp. n.
A
Posterior view of gonopods in situ (
paratype
male ex
QVM
23:45971)
B
medial view of right gonopod telopodite (ex
QVM
23:45963, from close to type locality). Dashed line marks course of prostatic groove. Scale bar ca
0.2 mm
.
1 male
, same details but
18 September 1991
,
QVM 23
:45957
;
1 female
, same details,
QVM 23
:45958
;
1 female
, 1 stadium
VI
male, same details but
23 September 1991
,
QVM 23
:45959
;
1 female
, same details but
26 September 1991
,
QVM 23
:45961
.
Other
material examined.
53 males
,
33 females
, 3 stadium
VI
females and 1 stadium
V
female from 46 other sites (see Appendix).
Diagnosis
.
Metatergites with three transverse rows of large, low, contiguous tubercles; leg 7 sternal tab with dense brush of stout, rod-like setae; gonopod telopodite with central, flattened process notched into three parts and two comparably sized combs of long, stout, rod-like setae on posterior surface, the basal comb directed basally, the distal comb distally.
Description
.
Male/female approximate measurements: length 12/
13 mm
, ring 12 paranota width 1.4/
1.6 mm
. Freshly preserved specimens yellowish-brown to unaided eye, under microscope with complex pattern (Figs 1C, 1G): paired paramedian lightyellow patches on prozonite and anteriorly on metatergite, contrasting with adjoining dark brown patches; metatergite otherwise light mottled yellowish brown; rings laterally with mottled yellowish-brown and large yellowish patch (Fig. 1G,
p
) just under paranotal margin; head reddish; antennae dark brown; legs pale, reddish distally. Live specimens similarly coloured but yellow not so intense; in alcohol, long-preserved specimens completely decoloured.
Most non-gonopod details as for
T. armatum
, but relative widths tergite 6>5>4>head>(3,2)>collum, ring 12 paranota 1.3 × as wide as prozonite, leg 6 tarsus 1.5 × as long as femur and femur longer than prefemur. Anterior margin of metatergite smoothly curving into lateral edge of paranota (shoulder less distinct than in
T. armatum
); metatergite almost completely covered with three transverse rows of 10–12 large, low tubercles, each with small seta near posterior edge. Ring 2 pit not apparent (
Fig. 4A
). Ring 6 sternite with no leg 6 tab; leg 7 tab long, thickened, with brush of stout setae; small rounded process medially on leg 7 coxa just posterior to sternal tab; anterior sternite margin with two long, fine, paramedian setae.
Gonopod telopodite (Fig. 13) straight, slender, slightly excavate basally on posterior surface, divided at ca 3/4 telopodite height into four processes: (a) short, slightly flattened, acute solenomere arising on medial surface and directed distally; (b) short, bladelike, acute process arising on anterolateral surface just basal to solenomere origin and directed distally and slightly anteriorly; (c) large central process, anteroposteriorly flattened, the wide distal margin divided into acute anterolateral branch and round-edged, tab-like posteromedial branch, the latter giving rise on distal edge to short, slender, tapered process directed posterodistally; (d) large, blade-like, acute process arising on lateral surface, abruptly bent and directed distally. Two dense clusters of stout, rod-like setae: 30–40 arising at ca 1/2 telopodite height on posterior surface, directed posteriorly or posterobasally;
20–30 in
band running anterolaterally across posterior surface from ca 1/2 to ca 3/4 telopodite height, mainly directed distally. Sparse fine setae running from posterior surface near base anterodistally along lateral surface to ca 1/2 telopodite height. Prostatic groove running more or less directly on medial surface to base of solenomere.
Female with sternites as wide as long; legs 2 usually missing (Mesibov, in preparation).
Distribution
.
Sometimes locally abundant in wet eucalypt forest, cool temperate rainforest and riparian tea-tree forest over at least
3000 km
2
in
northwest
Tasmania
, from Table Cape west to the Marrawah area, and from near sea level at Black River south to the Waratah area at
650 m
elevation (
Fig. 23
). The
T. compitale
range is bounded on three sides by the range of
T. hickmanorum
sp. n.
and the two species are tightly parapatric at some localities (Mesibov, in preparation).
T. compitale
has also been collected in plantations of
Pinus radiata
(
Bonham, Mesibov and Bashford 2002
; specimens coded as
Tasmaniosoma
sp. 1).
Etymology
.
Latin
compitalis
, “of crossroads”, adjective. Th e
types
were collected near the Fingerpost, a well-known crossroads in northwest
Tasmania
.
Remarks
.
Gonopod structure is nearly constant across the
T. compitale
range, but overall body size varies, with the largest specimens (to ca
15 mm
long) occurring in coastal and near-coastal areas.
The bright and complex pigmentation of
T. compitale
is lost with long storage in alcohol, and long-preserved females of
T. compitale
and
T. hickmanorum
n sp.
cannot be separated. Live and freshly preserved females can be distinguished by colour:
T. compitale
yellowish-brown with a large, prominent yellowish patch just under the paranotal margin (Fig. 1G),
T. hickmanorum
reddish-brown with only a small yellowish patch under paranotal margin (Fig. 1I).