Stenotaenia cribelliger, (VERHOEFF, 1898)

Bonato, Lucio & Minelli, Alessandro, 2008, Stenotaenia Koch, 1847: a hitherto unrecognized lineage of western Palaearctic centipedes with unusual diversity in body size and segment number (Chilopoda: Geophilidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 153 (2), pp. 253-286 : 263-264

STENOTAENIA CRIBELLIGER ( VERHOEFF, 1898)

Geophilus cribelliger Verhoeff, 1898: 346 (original description), 344 (in key), figs 1–3. Attems, 1903: 221 (in key); 1929a: 162 (in key), 175 (redescription); 1947: 112 (in key).

Type localities: ‘ Trebevic bei Sarajevo ; Plasa bei Jablanica’ = Trebevic´ , near Sarajevo ; Plasa, near Jablanica ( Bosnia & Herzegovina) .

Type material: Two syntypes, of which one is a male, 14-mm long, from Plasa, and one is a female, 18.5-mm long, from Trebevic´; both are held in the Museum für Naturkunde , Berlin, ZMB /Myr-13500 (male from Plasa) and ZMB /Myr-13501 (female from Trebevic´) ( Moritz & Fischer, 1979) .

Diagnosis: A Stenotaenia species of small body size (total length reaching 2 cm); c. 51 leg-bearing segments; first maxillae without distinct lappets on the coxosternum and on the telopodites; chitin lines of the forcipular coxosternum reaching the anterior condyles; forcipular intermediate articles distinct; sternal pore areas in the anterior part of the trunk oval, much longer than wide, and placed on the posterior half of each sternum; each coxopleuron with one anterior pouch with pores and one posterior single pore (see also Table 3).

Taxonomic history: After the original description by Verhoeff (1898), other specimens have been referred to this species by Attems (1929b). This taxon was invariantly cited as a valid species under the genus Geophilus (e.g. Attems, 1929a, 1947; Kos, 1992; Stoev, 1997), but its identity and validity were never critically discussed.

Assignment to Stenotaenia: It is assigned confidently to Stenotaenia (comb. nov.), as the original description and illustrations, as well the direct examination of the syntypes by P. Stoev (pers. comm.), document a combination of characters that are diagnostic for this genus (Table 2). Verhoeff (1898), in describing G. cribelliger , recognized its closeness to G. linearis , which is the type species of Stenotaenia .

Validity: It is treated here as a distinct species only provisionally, as its original description and illustrations provide some evidence for diagnostic traits in respect to other species ( Table 3), but its actual status in respect to the better known S. sorrentina and the poorly known S. antecribellata , Schizopleres ormanyensis , and, above all, S. palpiger (see below) should be evaluated through adequate sampling and comparisons.

Distribution: Originally described from two localities in Bosnia ( Fig. 2 ), it was subsequently recorded from another two localities in the same region ( Attems, 1929b), but these records are not accompanied by descriptive evidence, and therefore need to be reassessed. As most recent authors virtually ignored S. cribelliger , and its identity remained uncertain, the actual distribution of this species is at present unknown.

Figures

Figure 2. Geographical distribution of Stenotaenia species. The previously published and new records have been plotted upon a grid of 30′ latitude ¥ 30′ longitude. The type localities of all nominal taxa are indicated by circles (full circles for valid species, empty circles for synonyms), with the following abbreviations: ab, abbreviatus; ac, acuneli; al, albanensis; an, antecribellatus; as, asiaeminoris; bo, bosporanus; br, brevicornis; c, caldarium; cr, cribelliger; fi, fimbriatus; ff, forficularius; fv, foveolatus; fr, frenum; gi, giljarovi; gr, graecus; li, linearis; na, naxius; or, ormanyensis; pl, palaestinus; po, polyporus; pp, palpiger; rh, rhodopensis; ro, romanus; sl, silvestrii; sm, simplex; so, sorrentinus; st, sturanyi.