Agathodesmus bonang, Mesibov, Robert, 2013

Mesibov, Robert, 2013, New species of Agathodesmus Silvestri, 1910 from Australia (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Haplodesmidae), ZooKeys 325, pp. 33-64 : 43-44

Agathodesmus bonang sp. n. Fig. 7A

Holotype.

Male, Bonang Road, Vic, 37°23'26"S, 148°35'49"E ± 25 m, 320 m a.s.l., 9 April 2011, R. Mesibov, NMV K-11860.

Paratypes.

NMV: 9 males (K-11861-11869), 5 females (K-11872-11876), 1 stadium 6 female (K-11871), 1 stadium 5 female (K-11870), details as for holotype; 1 stadium 6 female, same details but 37°15'31"S, 148°44'02"E ± 25 m, 620 m a.s.l., K-11878; 1 female, same locality but 37°26'01"S, 148°35'47"E ± 25 m, 240 m a.s.l., 8 November 2006, R. Mesibov and T. Moule, K-11877.

Other material.

None.

Diagnostic description.

Male and female with head + 19 rings. Colour in alcohol pale white. Male/female ca 3.5/4.0 mm long; ring 12 maximum diameter ca 0.3/0.4 mm, maximum width ca 0.4/0.5 mm. Metatergal tubercles in ca 4-5 irregular transverse rows, mostly without setae; metatergal setae short with slightly flared tips; 3 lateralmost tubercles enlarged, forming narrow pseudo-paranotum. Male leg 6 without coxal projection. Telopodite (Fig. 7A) with pp straight; at in transverse plane, very short, rounded-triangular and bent posteriorly; dp directed posterobasally and slightly laterally at base; mab deeply and widely divided into 2 subequal lobes with bluntly pointed apices; meb not divided, bent first posteriorly, then laterobasally and only very slightly curved, apex behind medial edge of medial lobe of mab.

Distribution.

Known from wet eucalypt forest in East Gippsland, Victoria, over a linear extent of ca 20 km (Fig. 11).

Name.

For the Bonang Highway, a narrow and winding road through the eastern Victorian mountains, type locality of this species; noun in apposition.

Remarks.

Like Agathodesmus carorum sp. n., Agathodesmus bonang sp. n. is white in colour when alive, and contrasted well with the wet leaf litter and rotting wood in which I found it.