Nepalella, S HEAR, 1979

Golovatch, Sergei I., Geoffroy, Jean-Jacques & Mauriès, Jean-Paul, 2006, Four new Chordeumatida (Diplopoda) from caves in China, Zoosystema 28 (1), pp. 75-92 : 83-85

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF NEPALELLA S HEAR, 1979

1. Adults with 28 body segments (27 pleurotergites in terms of Enghoff et al. 1993) ......... .......................................................................................... N. phulcokia Mauriès, 1988

— Adults with 30 body segments .................................................................................... 2

2. Body length ≥ 30 mm, width 2.8-3.0 mm .................................................................. 3

— Body length ≤ 25 mm ................................................................................................ 5

3. Body particularly large, ≥ 40 mm long; tegument and ocelli pallid; tergal macrochaetae medium-sized ( Fig. 1 D-F); troglobite from Yunnan Prov., China........ N. grandis n. sp.

— Body 30-33 mm long, tegument and ocelli distinctly pigmented; macrochaetae short ( Fig. 1 A-C) ................................................................................................................ 4 4. Each eye patch with 15-17 ocelli; troglophile from Sichuan, China.... N. marmorata n. sp.

— Each eye patch with 25 ocelli; epigean in Yunnan, China.......... N. magna Shear, 2002

5. Body tegument pallid, but eye patches and antennae pigmented; body 21-23 mm long, 2.6-2.7 mm wide due to paraterga being well developed, in the form of distinct dorsolateral keels; tergal setae long; male legs 3-7 not enlarged; Myanmar... N. pallida Mauriès, 1988

— Body either entirely pallid (cavernicole) or distinctly pigmented; body width ≤ 2.3 mm, paraterga largely poorly developed, like indistinct dorsolateral swellings; tergal setae medium-sized at most; male legs 3-7 very often crassate .................................................. 6

6. Body length ≥ 18 mm, width ≥ 1.9 mm; coloration uniformly brown, male coxa 10 without distinct processes ........................................................................................... 7

— Never all these three characters combined .................................................................. 8

7. Posterior gonopods (male legs 9) with colpocoxites divided distally into three branches; only male femur 4 with a rounded gibbosity ventrally; Thailand................................... ............... N. taiensis Mauriès, 1988 (N. t. taiensis and N. t. inthanonae Mauriès, 1988)

— Posterior gonopods (male legs 9) with colpocoxites not divided distally; male femora 3 and 4 each with a fungiform protuberance ventrally; Nepal......... N. gunsa Shear, 1987

8. Body entirely pallid; ocelli 9, reduced, only slightly pigmented and widely separated; male legs 3-7 not modified; cave in Guizhou Prov., China.................... N. caeca Shear, 1999

— Body pigmented, ocelli dark and never reduced,> 20 in number, always forming a compact triangular eye patch on each side of head; male legs 3-7 most often crassate ........ 9

9. Body c. 16 mm long and 2.2 mm wide due to relatively well developed, shoulder-shaped paraterga; male femur 4 with a distal knob subtending a distal depression on ventral side; Yunnan .................................................................................. N. griswoldi Shear, 2002

— Body width usually ≤ 1.9 mm; paraterga modestly to poorly developed; male femur 4 either unmodified or otherwise modified .................................................................. 10

10. Tergal setae short and blunt ; male legs 3-7 crassate, but without further modifications; posterior gonopod telopodite relatively strongly reduced, much shorter than colpocoxites; Yunnan .................................................................................... N. pianma Shear, 2002

— Tergal setae short to medium-sized, but always acute; at least some of male legs 3-7 usually with modifications; telopodite of posterior gonopods hypertrophied, (sub)equal in height to colpocoxite ................................................................................................ 11

11. Body width 1.8-2.0 mm; male legs 3-7 with tarsal papillae and dorsally inflated prefemora; Yunnan .............................................................................. N. kavanaughi Shear, 2002

— Body width usually ≤ 1.9 mm; tarsal papillae largely absent; male prefemora 3-7 not enlarged dorsally .......................................................................................................... 12

12. Tarsal papillae present on most of male legs; male prefemur 11 with a long, digitiform, parabasal process; Vietnam.......................................... N. vietnamica Golovatch, 1983

— Tarsal papillae absent; male prefemur 11 devoid of processes .................................... 13

13. Claw simple; male coxa 10 with a long process distoventrally; male 11 coxa at most with one small process distoventrally, usually devoid of any; Nepal.................................. 14

— Claw complex, with both a minute accessory claw dorsally and a long setoid filament ventrally at base; male coxae devoid of processes, somewhat reduced and fused with sternite into a coxosternum subtending voluminous coxal glands, male coxa 11 with two small processes distoventrally; Myanmar.................................... N. birmanica Mauriès, 1988 14. Coloration ochraceous, with four dark, brown, longitudinal stripes .......................... 15

— General coloration ochraceous to brownish, with spots, or metazona dark ............... 18

15. Colpocoxites of posterior gonopods divided into three branches or lobes ................. 16

— Colpocoxites of posterior gonopods poorly divided distally into only two short branches ................................................................................................................................. 17

16. Larger: 16-17 mm long, 1.8-1.9 mm wide; colpocoxite of posterior gonopods divided into three lobes; male coxa 10 with a C-shaped process ... N. tragsindola Mauriès, 1988

— Smaller: 10-12 mm long, 1.0- 1.3 mm wide; colpocoxite of posterior gonopods divided into two lobes and a slender acuminate branch (solenomere?); male coxa 10 with a coniform process topped by a rounded, microgranolate bulge ... N. gairiensis Mauriès, 1988

17. Larger: 17 mm long, 1.6 mm wide (♂); both branches of colpocoxite very short and erect; male coxa 10 with a bifid process ................................... N. ringmoensis Mauriès, 1988

— Smaller: 11-14 mm long, 1.3-1.5 mm wide (♂, ♀); internal branch of colpocoxite directed medially; male coxa 10 with a subtruncate process .......... N. deharvengi Mauriès, 1988

18. Male coxa 10 with a straight, apically truncate process; male prefemora 3-7 each with a distoventral knob; male coxa 11 without gland, but with a small distomedial process .... ............................................................................................... N. thodunga Shear, 1979

— Male coxa 10 with a curved, apically acuminate process; male prefemora 3-7 either unmodified or only third and fourth with distoventral knobs; male coxa 11 at most with a small gland, devoid of any processes ......................................................................... 19

19. Male coxa 10 with a strong unciform process directed caudally; male femora 3-7 each with a fungiform protuberance at midway ventrally ............. N. taplejunga Shear, 1987

— Male coxa 10 with process directed laterad; male femora 3-7 unmodified ................. 20

20. Larger: c. 14 mm long, 1.4-1.5 mm wide; tergal setae medium-sized; male prefemora 3 and 4 with distoventral knobs .......................... N. khumbua Shear, 1979 (type species)

— Smaller: c. 10 mm long, 1.0 mm wide; tergal setae short; male legs 3 and 4 without such modifications ....................................................................... N. jaljalae Mauriès, 1988

Figures

FIG. 1. — A-C, Nepalella marmorata n. sp., paratype ♂; D-F, N. grandis n. sp., paratype ♂; G, N. grandis n. sp., paratype ♀; A, D, anterior body end, dorsal view; B, E, midbody segments, dorsal view; C, F, same, lateral view; G, vulva, front view. Scale bars: A-F, 2.0 mm; G, 0.4 mm.