Scolopocryptopidae Pocock, 1896

Shelley, Rowland M. & Mercurio, Randy, 2005, Ectonocryptoides quadrimeropus, a new centipede genus and species from Jalisco, Mexico; proposal of Ectonocryptopinae, analysis of subfamilial relationships, and a key to subfamilies and genera of the Scolopocryptopidae (Scolopendromorpha), Zootaxa 1094 (1), pp. 25-40 : 27-28

Family Scolopocryptopidae Pocock, 1896

Scolopocryptopidae Pocock, 1896:28 . Ribaut, 1915:339. Shelley, 2002:49–51.

Scolopocryptidae (sic.): Verhoeff, 1906:433; 1907:253. Ribaut, 1912:76. Attems, 1930:287.

Diagnosis. Scolopendromorpha with 23 pairs of legs and pedal segments; cephalic plate without ocelli.

Components. Four subfamilies and eight genera, distinguished in the following key.

Distribution. North, South, and Central America; Mexico; West Indies; western Africa ( Guinea and Sierra Leone to Gabon); Pacific Rim of Asia ( Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and New Guinea); Oceania ( Fiji) ( Kraepelin 1903; Attems 1914, 1930, 1938, 1953; Chamberlin 1920; Demange 1963, 1966, 1968; Bücherl 1974; Shinohara 1990; Shelley 1997, 2002; Chagas 2003). The Scolopocryptopidae is primarily a New World taxon and is most diverse and abundant in the Americas, especially the Neotropics. In North America it occupies seven disjunct areas as detailed by Shelley (2002:49–51); precise distributions on other continents are unknown. Three of the four subfamilies— Kethopinae , Newportiinae , and Ectonocryptopinae —are restricted to the Western Hemisphere; the nominate alone occurs in Africa and Asia, and except for the purported occurrence of Dinocryptops Crabill, 1953 , in the latter ( China, Vietnam, Fiji) ( Chamberlin 1920; Attems 1930, 1938, 1953; Chagas 2003), the only Old World genus is Scolopocryptops Newport, 1844 , itself. Regarding Dinocryptops , we emphasize that the type species, D. miersii (Newport, 1845) , occurs in the Neotropics and is the only New World component; Chagas (2003) designated a neotype from São Paulo State, Brazil, and synonymized all other names proposed for forms from this region. Thus, if those in Asia differ significantly and are not congeneric (i. e. if concordance in possessing spiracles on segment 7 represents convergence), they will require a new genus, and Dinocryptops will become monotypic and another endemic New World taxon.

Remarks. As both the Scolopocryptopidae and Newportiidae were proposed by Pocock (1896:28, 29) in this sequence, and confusion remains as to the correct familial name, we reiterate that the former holds priority. As discussed by Shelley (2002:3), this situation is governed by Article 24.2.2 of the 2000 Edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, which states that the first reviser determines precedence for simultaneously published names; as Attems (1930) was the first author to change their relative ranks, he is properly considered the first reviser. Attems reduced Scolopocryptopidae to subfamilial status under Cryptopidae and placed Newportiidae in synonymy, which therefore accords higher ranking and priority to Scolopocryptopidae . Consequently, Scolopocryptopidae and Newportiidae are either equivalent in rank and separate families, or the latter is a subfamily under the former; because of Article 24.2.2, Scolopocryptopinae cannot be a subfamily under Newportiidae .

Chamberlin (1915) erected Tidops for a Newportia ­like scolopocryptopid from Grenada with short tarsungula in which only the apices overlap when the forcipules are closed. Attems (1930) placed Tidops in the Scolopocryptopinae (family Cryptopidae ) along with Newportia Gervais, 1847 , in which the tarsungula are long and substantially overlap in the closed position. Schileyko and Minelli (1998) also considered Tidops to be closely related to Newportia because the 2nd tarsi on the ultimate legs are divided into "pseudopodomeres" in both genera, and we concur with this assessment. However, Schileyko (2002:483) transferred Tidops from the Newportiinae to the Scolopocryptopinae "according to the diagnostic characters (Schileyko, unpubl.)," i. e. on the basis of information that is (these data are still unpublished) known only to him. We therefore return Tidops to the Newportiinae , because concordance with Newportia in the pseudosegmented 2 nd tarsi constitutes a clear synapomorphy that unites them in a monophyletic taxon. Taxonomic actions that are based on nebulous unpublished data, known to only one person and not the scientific community as a whole, cannot be accorded credence and should be deferred until the evidence is published, so that colleagues can evaluate it.

While differences exist throughout the bodies and their general appearances differ, the most obvious distinctions among the scolopocryptopid subfamilies involve aspects of the caudal legs. Each presently includes two component genera that are anatomically similar and differ primarily in one principal feature.