Lithobius pusillus johni Dobroruka, 1959

Tuf, Ivan Hadrián, Wytwer, Jolanta & Tajovský, Karel, 2008, On the identity of the species described in the genus Lithobius Leach, 1814 by L. J. Dobroruka from the former Czechoslovakia (Czech and Slovak Republics) (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha), Zootaxa 1788, pp. 37-46 : 42-43

Lithobius pusillus johni Dobroruka, 1959

Lithobius pusillus Dobroruka 1956: 271 .

Lithobius pusillus johni Dobroruka 1959: 105 –106.

Type locality. Mohelenská hadcová step NNR (= Serpentine Steppe of Mohelno), Moravia, Czech Republic.

Type specimens. The description of L. pusillus johni was based on 3 ɗ, coll. Dobroruka.

Material examined. No material available.

Remarks. Lithobius pusillus Latzel, 1880 was synonymized with L. lapidicola Meinert, 1872 by Eason (1982). Dobroruka characterized his taxon in two papers. At first he considered 2 ɗ as atypical specimens of L. pusillus ( Dobroruka 1956) , but later, after a study of the third ɗ, Dobroruka (1959) described them all as a new subspecies. The main distinguishing characters mentioned by Dobroruka were the spinulation of the 15th prefemur 1/3 (whole leg D: 0,0,1,0,0, V: 0,1,3,1,0, respectively) and the antennae with 25 (2 ɗ) or 30 articles (1 ɗ). The number of antennomeres in the original description of L. lapidicola by Meinert (1872) varies from 26 to 40, from 21 to 33, according to Latzel (1880). The spinulation of the last legs in the course of development grows from D: 0,0,0,0,0 to D: 1,0,2,0,0 ( Latzel 1880). However, Dobroruka found the same 15th leg spinulation formula as he described in his new subspecies shared also with a specimen of L. lapidicola from the same locality ( Dobroruka 1959). Anyway, the absence of prefemoral spines on the 15th legs seems to be insufficient to distinguish subspecies.

Taxonomic note. We consider Lithobius pusillus johni Dobroruka, 1959 as a junior subjective synonym of Lithobius lapidicola Meinert, 1872 , syn. n.