Sphaeropoeus Brandt, 1833

Wesener, Thomas, 2016, Redescription and phylogenetic analysis of the type species of the giant pill-millipede genus Sphaeropoeus Brandt, 1833 (Diplopoda, Sphaerotheriida, Zephroniidae), Zootaxa 4184 (1), pp. 141-157 : 146-150

Sphaeropoeus Brandt, 1833

Sphaeropoeus Brandt, 1833: 199 .

Tonkinobelum Verhoeff, 1924: 58 (synonymized by Jeekel 1974: 46) Pantitherium Attems, 1932: 7 (synonymized by Jeekel 1974: 46) Lissosphaera Attems, 1943: 62 (synonymized by Jeekel 1974: 46)

Sphaeropoeus — Brandt 1833: 199 (first description).— Brandt 1841: 364 (description).— Gervais 1847: 83 (list).— C.L. Koch 1847: 38 (description).— Pocock 1894: 326 (new species).— Pocock 1895: 412 (new species).— Silvestri 1896: 205.— Flower 1901: 7 (new species).— Attems 1914: 142 (list).— Verhoeff 1924: 59 (list).— Attems 1926: 120 (list).— Attems 1928: 203 (list).— Attems 1935: 130 (list).— Attems 1936: 152 (list).— Attems 1943: 61 (list).— Attems 1953: 155 (list).— Jeekel 1971: 28 (list).— Jeekel 1974: 46 (classification).— Hoffman 1976: 119 (list).—Hoffman 1980: 63 (list).— Hugot et al. 1991: 65 (parasites).— Jeekel 2001: 22 (list).— Mauriès 2001: 140 (list).—Wesener & VandenSpiegel 2009: 551 (morphological phylogenetic analysis).— Wesener 2015: 375 (list).

Synonyms:

Tonkinobelum — Verhoeff 1924: 58 (first description).— Attems 1926: 120 (list).— Attems 1928: 203 (list).— Verhoeff 1928: 1384 (description).— Attems 1935: 128 (list).— Attems 1936: 152 (list).— Attems 1943: 62 (list); Jeekel 1971: 29 (list).— Jeekel 1974: 46 (synonymization).— Hoffman 1976: 119 (list).—Hoffman 1980: 63 (list). Type species: Tonkinobelum maculatum Verhoeff, 1924 .

Pantitherium — Attems 1932: 7 (first description).— Attems 1935: 131 (list).— Attems 1943: 63 (list).— Attems 1953: 155 (list).—Jeekel 1971: 27 (list).— Jeekel 1974: 46 (synonymization).

Type species: Pantitherium lugubre Attems, 1932 .

Lissosphaera — Attems 1943: 62 (first description).—Jeekel 1971: 26 (list).— Jeekel 1974: 46 (synonymization). Type species: Lissosphaera speciosa Attems, 1943 .

Distribution. Mainly Sumatra (13 of 20 species), few species also in Borneo (2), Java (1), Nias (1), Singapore (1), Peninsular Malaysia (2), and a dubious record (see Jeekel 2001, Enghoff et al. 2004) from Vietnam.

……continued on the next page Description. 20–50 mm long. Apical male antennomere axe-shaped, with>70, up to 180 apical cones (record number in the order, and of all Diplopoda). Anal shield locking carinae of variable number, length, and position. Tarsi of legs 3–21 with a single apical spine, rarely two. Coxae in the analyzed species with a wide coxal process. Posterior telopods with four telopoditomeres; immovable finger (telopoditomere 2) slender, with two membranous processes, usually shorter than movable finger. Telopoditomere 3 with small sclerotized teeth and a white ledge. Telopoditomere 4 in some species with spines, always with a membranous ledge, always lacking teeth. Anterior telopod with four podomeres distal to syncoxite. General shape in the few analyzed species of the genus variable. A specially shaped lateral process of telopoditomere 2 and a process of telopoditomere 3 form a clamp ( Figs 1 A–C). Genus difficult to distinguish from Tigridosphaera Jeekel, 2000 and Prionobelum Verhoeff, 1924 .

Type-species: Sphaeropoeus hercules Brandt, 1833 by monotypy.

Other species included (19):

Sphaeropoeus extinctus Silvestri, 1895 ( Malaysia, Indonesia: Nias) Sphaeropoeus gisleni (Verhoeff, 1939) (Sumatra)

Sphaeropoeus lugubris ( Attems, 1932) (Sumatra)

Sphaeropoeus maculatus Verhoeff, 1924 ( Vietnam? Mislabeled according to Jeekel 2001) Sphaeropoeus magnus Chamberlin, 1921 (Borneo: Sarawak) Sphaeropoeus malaccanus Verhoeff, 1910 -1914 ( Singapore) Sphaeropoeus modiglianii Silvestri, 1895 (Sumatra, Malay Peninsula ) Sphaeropoeus pellitus ( Attems, 1943) (Sumatra)

Sphaeropoeus politus ( Attems, 1935) (Sumatra)

Sphaeropoeus punctulatissimus Silvestri, 1897 (Sumatra) Sphaeropoeus speciosus ( Attems, 1943) (Sumatra)

Sphaeropoeus stollii Pocock, 1895 (Java)

Sphaeropoeus sumatrensis ( Chamberlin, 1945) (Sumatra) Sphaeropoeus tatusiaeformis Daday, 1889 (Sumatra)

Sphaeropoeus tigratus Silvestri, 1897 (Sumatra)

Sphaeropoeus tuberculosus Karsch, 1881 (Borneo)

Sphaeropoeus unciger ( Attems, 1943) (Sumatra)

Sphaeropoeus variegatus Pocock, 1895 (unknown)

Sphaeropoeus velutinus Carl, 1906 (Sumatra)

Figures

FIGURE 1. Sphaeropoeus hercules holotype, ZMB 54. A: Endotergum; B: left midbody leg, posterior view; C: remaining syncoxite and podomere 1 of the anterior telopods, anterior view; D: left posterior telopod, anterior view; E: left posterior telopod, posterior view; F: posterior telopod, detail of crenulated teeth on podomere 3. Scale bars = 1 mm. Abbreviations: numbers refer to podomere number above syncoxite; Cx = coxa; Fe = femur; IH = inner horn; PFe = postfemur; Pre = prefemur; syn = syncoxite; Ta = tarsus; Tib = tibia.