Research Article |
Corresponding author: Sergei Golovatch ( sgolovatch@yandex.ru ) Academic editor: Robert Mesibov
© 2016 Sergei Golovatch.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Golovatch SI (2016) The millipede family Cryptodesmidae in Indochina (Diplopoda, Polydesmida). ZooKeys 578: 33-43. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.578.7994
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In addition to two species of the diplopod family Cryptodesmidae already reported from Indochina, Trichopeltis kometis (Attems, 1938) and Ophrydesmus anichkini Golovatch, 2015, the fauna of that region is supplemented by three species: Niponia nodulosa Verhoeff, 1931, a millipede hitherto known only from southern Japan and Taiwan, is now recorded from Vietnam; Trichopeltis cavernicola sp. n. from Laos, the sixth species in that tropical Asian genus, is the first presumed troglobite to be described amongst the Asian cryptodesmids and shows several distinct troglomorphic features; and Circulocryptus gen. n., monobasic, which joins the tribe Dyakryptini, but differs from all three contribal genera (two monobasic from Borneo, and another, oligotypic, from New Guinea) primarily in the gonopods of C. faillei sp. n., from Vietnam, being especially elaborate and subcircular, the telopodites strongly twisted, and the solenomere lying much more basally.
Diplopoda , Cryptodesmidae , taxonomy, new genus, new species, Vietnam, Laos
In tropical or subtropical Asia and Australasia, the millipede family Cryptodesmidae currently comprises only 11 genera (including two that are dubious) and 34 species. Among them, only two genera and species, Trichopeltis kometis (Attems, 1938) (= T. deharvengi Golovatch, Geoffroy, Mauriès & VandenSpiegel, 2010) and Ophrydesmus anichkini Golovatch, 2015, occur in Indochina, the former species being quite widespread in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, the latter species described from a single locality in southern Vietnam (
This paper puts on record another three Cryptodesmidae found in Indochina. One represents a new genus and species from Vietnam. One more is a new species of a rather small tropical Asian genus from a cave in Laos, the first presumed troglobitic Asian cryptodesmid. The third species is common in southern Japan and Taiwan, being reported here for the first time from Indochina, in particular, northern Vietnam.
The types of both new species were collected by my French colleagues and friends Louis Deharveng and Anne Bedos, both from the
1 ♂, 1 ♀ (
Based on material from Taiwan, this species has recently been redescribed and illustrated in due detail (
Holotype ♂ (
To emphasize the cavernicoly and troglomorphic appearance of this new species; noun in apposition.
Differs from congeners by the relatively gracile and slender body in which each midbody paratergite is clearly narrower than prozonite width, coupled with the increasingly upturned postcollum paraterga and such obviously troglomorphic features as an unpigmented body, as well as the extremely long and slender legs and antennae. In addition, much of the distolateral part of an indistinctly tripartite gonopod telopodite is densely covered with wart-shaped knobs while the tip of the solenomere is vestigial and simple.
Length ca 11 mm, width of midbody pro- and metazonae 0.8 and 1.7 mm, respectively. General coloration in alcohol entirely pallid, tegument mostly translucent (Figs
Body with 20 segments (composed of collum plus 17 podous and one apodous rings, plus telson). In width, head << collum < segment 2 < 3 < 4–17; thereafter body rapidly tapering towards telson. Head behind labrum very densely and clearly microgranulate and pilose; epicranial suture superficial, more distinct in vertigial region. Antennae unusually long and slender for a cryptodesmid (Figs
Sternites narrow (Fig.
Gonopods (Fig.
Trichopeltis Pocock, 1894 (= Otodesmus Cook, 1896), formerly comprised six species that range from the Himalayas of India (Assam and Darjeeling District) and Myanmar to southern China, Indochina and Indonesia (Sumatra) (
The new species is not only the first clearly troglomorphic Trichopeltis, but also the first presumed troglobite among the Asian Cryptodesmidae. Similarly strongly cave-adapted cryptodesmids are exceptional, e.g. the highly troglomorphic Peridontodesmella alba Schubart, 1957, from several caves in São Paulo State, Brazil (
Cryptodesmidae with gonopod telopodite stout, subcircular, clearly twisted (= seminal groove mostly running on lateral face) and vaguely bipartite, supplied with a mesal prefemoral process at base; a considerable, spiniform, retrorse solenomere terminating a sigmoid seminal groove and placed near telopodite midway; neither an accessory seminal chamber nor a hairy pulvillus.
To emphasize the subcircular gonopods; gender masculine.
Small-sized Cryptodesmidae (adults about 1 cm long and 3 mm wide) with 20 segments (trunk composed of collum plus 17 podous and one apodous rings, plus telson); a flabellate collum covering the head from above. Antennae clearly clavate. Paraterga short and very broad, slightly declined, mostly squarish laterally, lobulate and/or radiate anteriorly, laterally and posteriorly; ozopores invisible, pore formula untraceable. Middle parts of metaterga with seriate transverse rows of abundant setigerous knobs/tubercles partly extending onto paraterga; tergal setae present, simple; neither sternal cones nor leg modifications. Gonopod aperture subcordiform; gonopod telopodites in situ held parallel to each other, each vaguely bipartite and complex, with a mesal, parabasal, prefemoral process; basal part of telopodite clearly twisted and surmounted by a long, spiniform solenomere terminating a sigmoid seminal groove and situated at about telopodite midway. Neither an accessory seminal chamber nor a hairy pulvillus.
Circulocryptus faillei sp. n.
Globally, the Cryptodesmidae is a relatively small family that encompasses almost 40 genera and nearly 130 species and ranges from Mexico to Argentina in the Americas, occurring also in tropical Africa and tropical to subtropical Asia to Papua New Guinea and Japan in the East (
Holotype ♂ (
Honours Arnaud Faille, the collector.
Length ca 11 mm, width of midbody pro- and metazonae 1.2 and 2.9 mm, respectively. General coloration in alcohol red, but legs mostly somewhat lighter pink and antennomeres 5-7 increasingly infuscate, red-brown to dark brown (Figs
Body with 20 segments. In width, head << collum < segment 2 < 3 < 4=15; thereafter body rapidly tapering towards telson.
Head behind labrum very densely and clearly microgranulate; epicranial suture superficial, more distinct in vertigial region. Antennae short, clearly clavate (Fig.
Sternites narrow (Fig.
Circulocryptus faillei sp. n., ♂ holotype: 10 leg 7, lateral view 11, 12 left gonopod, mesal and lateral views, respectively. – Scale bars: 0.25 mm (10) and 0.2 mm (11, 12). Designations: sg seminal groove; t prefemoral process; b basal part of telopodite; sl solenomere; pr apical process of b; u distal half of telopodite; l midway lobe; s simple or bifid spinules; p lateral spatuliform process; la mesal subunciform lappet; h ventral hook at base of la. NB: the large black spot in Fig.
Gonopods (Figs
Special thanks go to Louis Deharveng and Anne Bedos (both