Monstrodesmus, Golovatch, Sergei I., Geoffroy, Jean-Jacques & VandenSpiegel, Didier, 2014

Golovatch, Sergei I., Geoffroy, Jean-Jacques & VandenSpiegel, Didier, 2014, Review of the millipede family Trichopolydesmidae in the Oriental realm (Diplopoda, Polydesmida), with descriptions of new genera and species, ZooKeys 414, pp. 19-65 : 55-56

Monstrodesmus gen. n.

Diagnosis.

19 segments (♂), ♀ unknown; pore formula normal: 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15-18; head without modifications; paraterga poorly developed, metaterga with 3 rows of 3+3 or, more rarely, 4+4, long, bacilliform setae (regardless of lateral setae); gonopod coxae large (gonocoel quite deep); telopodites rather well exposed, tripartite, without evidence of torsion, elongate, moderately curved caudad, subcontiguous medially and held parallel to each other; acropodites lying distal to prefemoral parts much longer than and coaxial with the latter; solenomere (sl), or endomere, a strong, simple, frontal branch about as long as a lateral exomere (ex); a very long, flagelliform, mesal branch (fl) at base of both sl and ex; seminal groove (sg) running entirely along mesal side of sl to terminate on top with neither an accessory seminal chamber nor a pulvillus.

Name.

To emphasize the monstrously long flagellum of the gonopod, masculine.

Type species.

Monstrodesmus flagellifer sp. n., by present designation.

Remarks.

This new genus seems to be particularly similar to Topalodesmus Golovatch, 1988, monobasic, from the Himalayas of India ( Golovatch 1988b). Indeed, both share basically the same gonopod conformation: coxae quite massive; gonocel rather deep, but telopodites clearly exposed, deeply tripartite, untwisted, curved caudad, subcontiguous medially and held parallel to main axis; seminal groove running entirely mesally along a very strong frontal endomere branch (= solenomere, sl). However, the differences are definitely significant enough to keep these two genera separate. Unlike Topalodesmus which shows 20 segments in both sexes, the gonopod coxa in Monstrodesmus gen. n. is devoid of a frontal process, the exomere (ex) prominent (vs vestigial), the caudomesal branch (fl) unusually long and flagelliform (vs thick and unciform) while the solenomere (sl) a very long, strong, frontal branch.