Rhysida stuhlmanni stuhlmanni Kraepelin, 1903

Simaiakis, Stylianos Michail & Edgecombe, Gregory D., 2013, Scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) in the Natural History Museum (London): A review of the hitherto unidentified species collected in Africa, with remarks on taxonomy and distribution, and a new species of Otostigmus (Parotostigmus), Zootaxa 3734 (2), pp. 169-198 : 183

15. Rhysida stuhlmanni stuhlmanni Kraepelin, 1903

( Figs 27–29 )

Material examined. Malawi: Zomba, Nyasaland, Aug. to Nov. 1892, leg. H.H. Johnson, 1 ex., BMNH 94.1.15.39 ; Malawi: Lake Nyassa, Likoma Isl., London School of Tropical Medicine , Pres’d by Prof. P.A. Buxter, leg. R. Howard, 1 ex., BMNH 1950.4.19.28–29. ( Fig. 22 ) .

Type locality. Tanzania ( Bagamoyo , Rio Quaqua, ‘ Zambesi’) ( Minelli et al. 2006) .

General distribution. East Tropical Africa: Tanzania ( TZ); South Tropical Africa: Malawi ( MW), South Africa (ZA), Zimbabwe ( ZW) ( Lawrence 1955; Minelli et al. 2006); Asia Tropical: India ( IN) ( Khanna 1994).

Remarks. The smaller specimen from Zomba (22 mm) has 17 antennal articles, of which three are glabrous dorsally ( Fig. 27 ) and 5+5 forcipular teeth ( Fig. 28 ); the larger specimen from Likoma Island (58 mm) has 18 antennal articles, 2.66 of which are glabrous dorsally. Both specimens from Malawi have the diagnostic short paramedian sutures on the tergites (confined to the posterior part of TT4–20), only the tergite of the ultimate legbearing segment being marginate, the strongly embayed posterior margin and approximately quadratic shape of the sternite of the ultimate leg-bearing segment ( Fig. 29 , cf. Kraepelin 1903: fig. 97), and three spines (two apical, one subapical, no lateral or spine spine) on the coxopleural process ( Fig. 29 ), though these characters are also shared by R. intermedia Attems, 1910 , from Pemba Island, Zanzibar. 17 antennal articles in R. stuhlmanni stuhlmanni corresponds to the description of R. intermedia but previous descriptions have not indicated the number of glabrous antennal articles in R. s. stuhlmanni , so it is not clear whether this might serve as a basis to recognize two species. In the larger specimen, legs 1–19 bear two tarsal spurs (1–18 fide Kraepelin 1903), and legs 1–17 bear a tibial spur (leg 18 is missing, and leg 19 lacks a tibial spur). The smaller specimen has two tarsal spurs to at least leg 17 (the following legs are missing) and a tibial spur to at least leg 13 but lacking on leg 17. The main differences between the Malawi specimens and R. intermedia are the presence of 17–18 antennal articles (versus 19), two tarsal spurs to legs 17+/19 (versus 15) and a gentle curve to the outer margin of the coxopleural pore field, corresponding to “ziemlich geradlinig” ( R. stuhlmanni in Attems’ key) rather than “tief eingebuchtet” ( R. intermedia ).

Figures

FIGURE 22. Rhysida afra, R. longicornis, R. longipes longipes, R. paucidens, R. stuhlmanni stuhlmanni and R. togoensis, distribution records of specimens from Africa housed in the NHM collection.

FIGURES 23–29. Figs 23–26. Rhysida paucidens Pocock, 1897. BMNH 1953.2.14.515 (Ethiopia): Figure 23, cephalic plate and T1, dorsal view, scale bar 1 mm; Figure 24, forcipular segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm; Figure 25, ultimate leg prefemur, scale bar 0.5 mm; Figure 26, coxopleuron and sternite of ultimate leg-bearing segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm. Figs 27–29. Rhysida stuhlmanni stuhlmanni Kraepelin, 1903. BMNH 94.1.15.39 (Malawi): Figure 27, cephalic plate and T1, dorsal view, scale bar 1 mm; Figure 28, forcipular segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm; Figure 29, coxopleuron and sternite of ultimate leg-bearing segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm.