Agathodesmus chandleri, Mesibov, Robert, 2013

Mesibov, Robert, 2013, New species of Agathodesmus Silvestri, 1910 from Australia (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Haplodesmidae), ZooKeys 325, pp. 33-64 : 46

Agathodesmus chandleri sp. n. Figs 5B, 7C

Holotype.

Male, Wotton Scrub, Kenneth Stirling Conservation Park, SA, 34°58'58"S, 138°46'39"E ± 100 m, 450 m a.s.l., 1 July 2010, R. Mesibov and T. Moule, SAM OM2003.

Paratypes.

SAM: 15 males, OM2004-OM2018; 5 females, OM2019-OM2023; 2 stadium 6 males, OM2024, OM2025; details as for holotype.

Other material.

SAM: 2 males, Richardsons Road, Uraidla, SA, 34°58'13"S, 138°45'02"E ± 25 m, 580 m a.s.l., 21 August 2010, R. Mesibov and T. Moule, OM2026, OM2027; 1 male, Whites Scrub, SA, 34°58'06"S, 138°46'42"E ± 25 m, 510 m a.s.l., same date and collectors, OM2028. ANIC: 4 males, 1 female, Pill Box Track, Cleland Conservation Park, 16 km SE of Adelaide, SA, 34°58'S, 138°42'E ± 1 km, 500 m a.s.l., 25 April 1993, D.S. Chandler, ANIC berlesate 1539, cut dry sclerophyll, Eucalyptus and grass litter, 64-000337.

Diagnostic description.

Males and females with head + 19 rings. Colour in alcohol pale yellow. Male/female ca 5.0/5.5 mm long; ring 12 maximum diameter ca 0.45/0.5 mm, maximum width ca 0.55/0.7 mm. Metatergal tubercles in 6-7 irregular transverse rows, mostly without setae; metatergal setae short with slightly flared tips; 5 lateralmost tubercles enlarged, forming very narrow pseudo-paranotum. Male leg 6 without coxal projection. Telopodite (Fig. 7C) with pp straight; at in transverse plane, short, narrowly triangular with rounded tip curving posteriorly; dp directed posterobasally at base; mab directed laterobasally and curving anterobasally, narrow and not divided into lobes, distal margin thickened and with small emargination; meb curving behind mab, then following anterobasal curve of mab and terminating with it.

Distribution.

Wet and dry eucalypt forest in the Adelaide Hills east of Adelaide, South Australia (Fig. 1).

Name.

In honour of the American entomologist Don Chandler, who collected the first known specimens of this species while on a field trip to Australia; adjective.

Remarks.

At the type locality I found an isolated aggregation of individuals of this species in very wet, friable material inside a rotting eucalypt log (http://www.polydesmida.info/polydesmida/thanks.html). Other specimens were in wet litter close to rotting wood.

As with Agathodesmus spp. localities elsewhere in eastern Australia, the four Agathodesmus chandleri sp. n. localities in the Adelaide Hills all have mean annual rainfalls of at least 1000 mm. This species is likely to be a wet-forest relict surviving on a high-rainfall 'island' in an otherwise dry region of the Australian continent. Nevertheless, Agathodesmus chandleri sp. n. appears to be locally abundant in the Adelaide Hills, and occurs in habitats much disturbed by burning and (formerly) stock grazing.