Corresponding authors: Sergei I. Golovatch (
Academic editor: R. Mesibov
The millipede subfamily Alogolykinae and the tribe Alogolykini are recorded in Thailand for the first time,being represented there by
The family
All the more interesting is the discovery in Thailand of the first species of the small, purely Oriental subfamily
Only two species of
The material was collected during a field trip in January 2011 from near Thee Lor Sue Waterfall in the mountains at the frontier between Thailand and Myanmar. Live animals were photographed on the spot. Specimens were preserved in 75% ethanol and studied in the laboratory using an Olympus stereomicroscope. Scanning electron micrographs Museum of Zoology, Chulalongkorn University
Body medium-sized (ca 20–30 mm long, ca 2.0–3.2 mm wide), with 20 segments. Paraterga moderately to strongly developed. Sterna unmodified or with a cone near each coxa. Sternal lobe or cone(s) between ♂ coxae 4 present. First pair of ♂ legs with or without femoral adenostyles. At least some male legs with ventral brushes on tarsi, sometimes also on distal halves of tibiae.
Gonopod with a quite short, subcylindrical, distoventrally densely setose coxite; prefemoral (= setose) part of telopodite short to very short, a quarter or less as long as acropodite, delimited from extremely short femorite by a mesal sulcus, ridge or spine; femorite supporting a long, spiniform, sometimes deeply bipartite femoral process (
Other species include
The sole male of the species, from Puepoli and kept in the British Museum, was redescribed by
The new species described below, despite its relative geographical proximity to
The gonopod telopodite in
In terms of metatergal structure,
There is little doubt that more species of
♂ (CUMZ), Thailand, Tak Province, Umphang District, Thee Lor Sue Waterfall, 590 m a.s.l.,
♂ (CUMZ), same District, Mokro Subdistrict, roadside, 1,168 m a.s.l.,
After Thee Lor Sue Waterfall, the type locality, which is the largest and highest waterfall in Thailand.
Differs from congeners mainly by the first pair of ♂ legs lacking femoral adenostyles, coupled with unmodified sterna and the distal half of the gonopod telopodite being strongly curved, elongate and distally carrying three evident processes. See also Remarks above and Key below.
Length 21–23.5 (♂) or 19.5–22.5 mm (♀), width of midbody pro- and metazona 1.92–1.98 and 2.54–2.75 mm (♂) or 2.07-2.35 and 2.77–3.12 mm (♀), respectively.
Coloration of live animals dark brown (
Clypeolabral region and vertex sparsely setose, epicranial suture distinct. Antennae moderately long (
Sterna moderately setose, without modifications; a linguiform, sternal lobe between ♂ coxae 4 (
Gonopods (
Distribution of
1 | Paraterga moderately developed, sternal cones present. Myanmar |
|
– | Paraterga strongly developed ( |
2 |
2 | Gonopod suberect, with a basal gonofemoral tooth and a distally strongly fimbriate/spiculate solenophore, but without evident processes distal to gonofemoral tooth. Southern China |
|
– | Gonopod strongly elongate and curved distally, supplied with three evident processes distal to femorite ( |
This project was partly funded by Chulalongkorn University Graduate School Postdoctoral Project to NL, while most of the financial support was received from The Thailand Research Fund, The TRF Senior Research Scholar RTA 5580001 (2012-2015) to SP. We thank the members of Animal Systematics Research Unit for assistance in the field.