Zoosphaerium xerophilum Wesener, 2009

Wesener, Thomas, Bespalova, Ioulia & Sierwald, Petra, 2010, Madagascar’s living giants: discovery of five new species of endemic giant pill-millipedes from Madagascar (Diplopoda: Sphaerotheriida: Arthrosphaeridae: Zoosphaerium), African Invertebrates 51 (1), pp. 133-133 : 157

Zoosphaerium xerophilum Wesener, 2009

Fig. 18

Zoosphaerium xerophilum: Wesener 2009: 40 .

Description:

Anal shield shape: Top well rounded, bottom sharply tapering downward. From apical view, shield looks slightly but sharply pointed posteriorly like bottom half of a hazelnut.

Female sexual characters: Subanal plate with washboard possessing up to 5 stridulation ribs on each half, some long, some shorter. Vulva large, covering more than 3/4 of coxa ( Fig. 18 ). Operculum large, reaching past apical edge of coxa, with indent at apex halving it into two small same-sized mounds. Meso-apical region of operculum shallowly indented. Mesal plate long and broad, protruding to 0.5 of operculum height, but not past apical edge of coxa.

Material examined: MADAGASCAR: Antsiranana Prov.: 1^( FMNH-INS 55897 ) Forêt d’Ambre, tropical dry forest, J. Köhler et al., iii.2008 .

Figures

Fig. 18. Zoosphaerium xerophilum Wesener, 2009 (FMNH-INS 55897), right second coxa with vulva, posterior view. Abbreviations: Cx – coxite, EP – external, lateral plate, IP – inner, mesal plate, O – operculum. Scale bar = 1 mm.