Bothropolys montanus Verhoeff, 1938 New Chinese

Ma, Hui-Qin, Song, Da-Xiang & Zhu, Ming-Sheng, 2008, A review of the Chinese species of Bothropolys Wood, 1862 (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae), Zootaxa 1786, pp. 35-47 : 40-41

Bothropolys montanus Verhoeff, 1938 New Chinese records

Verhoeff, 1938a: 100; Takakuwa, 1940: 42; Matic, 1974: 337; Takakuwa, 1939: 103.

Diagnosis: Body length 21.9 mm, antennae composed of 19+20 antennomeres; 35 ocelli arranged in 5 rows on each side; Tömösváry’s organ rounded, small, moderately smaller than the adjoining ocelli; 8+9 prosternal blunt teeth, without porodonts; posterior angles of TT 6 and 7 weakly triangular, posterior angles of TT 9, 11 and 13 sharply triangular; pretarsus of all legs with claws; only a moderately long anterior accessory claw on claws of legs 1–13; no accessory claws on legs 14 and 15; coxal pores round or ovate, 20–31 irregularly arranged coxal pores; male gonopods short and thick, as half–ball protuberance, with 6–8 long setae, distally slightly sclerotised.

Description: Body length: 21.9 mm.

Colour: antennae red purple to dark purple, distal antennomeres showing transition to yellow-brown, terminal antennomere yellow-brown; tergites red brown, with pale white mottling concentrated in a longitudinal median band; head shield and TT 1, 14 and 15 darker, pleural region purple with pale hue; sternites dustcolour; tip of maxillipeds black, other parts of maxillipeds and coxosternum and sternite 15 red-brown; all legs light gray to pale purple, distitarsus yellow brown.

Antennae composed of 19+20 antennomeres ( Fig. 6 ); basal antennomere the thickest, longer than wide, succeeding antennomeres remarkably longer than wide, gradually shorter and thinner, terminal antennomere 3.9 times as long as wide; abundant setae on antennal surface, but fewer setae on both ventral and outer sides in basal articles, gradually increasing in density to about the seventh antennomere, then more or less constant.

Head shield smooth, convex, as long as wide, transverse suture clear, pigment concentrated as close netlike veins, tiny setae scattered very sparsely over the surface; frontal marginal ridge with shallow anterior median furrow, short to moderately long setae sparsely scattered along the frontal marginal ridge of the head shield; posterior margin of the head shield slightly concave, thicker posteromedially.

35 ocelli on each side ( Fig. 7 ), round, comparatively small, arranged in 5 irregular rows, terminal ocellus comparatively larger, the dorsal ocelli moderately large, the ventral ones relatively small; ocelli gently bulging, domed, translucent, usually darkly pigmented at eyeground, field of ocelli slightly dark.

Tömösváry’s organ ( Fig. 7 -To) very small, slightly rounded, moderately smaller than the adjoining ocelli, lying on the ventral margin of the head immediately proventral to the ocelli.

Maxillipede coxosternite ( Fig. 8 ) trapezoidal, medial part of the dental margin moderately arched, outboard slightly longer than inboard, median notch moderately deep and shallow, V-shaped; dental margin without shoulder, with 8+9 approximately triangular teeth, the most external tooth moderately sharp ( Fig. 9 ); without porodonts; some scattered setae on the ventral side of the coxosternum, comparatively long and thick setae near the dental margin.

Posterior margin of all tergites slightly hunched, posterolaterally narrower than anterolaterally, generally trapeziform; except for the head shield and T1, all tergites weakly wrinkled, tiny setae scattered very sparsely over the surface; lateral marginal ridge of all tergites continuous; posterior margin of T 1 straight, posterior marginal ridge of TT 1 and 3 continuous, posterior marginal ridge of other tergites interrupted. Posterior margin of TT 3 and 5 slightly concave, posterior margin of TT 8, 10, 12, 14 and 15 deeply concave; posterior angles of TT 2 and 4 moderately rounded, TT 6 and 7 slightly projecting, TT 9, 11 and 13 with markedly sharply projections ( Fig. 6 ). Short to long setae scattered sparsely along the lateral borders, thicker on the anterior and posterior angles; T 1 as wide as the head shield, slightly wider than T 3, T10 the widest.

All sternites generally trapeziform, moderately smooth, long setae scattered sparsely over the surface; short to long bristles on the lateral borders, the bristles at the anterior and posterior angles thicker.

Legs strong; pretarsus of all legs with claws, curved ventrad; with posterior accessory claws only on legs 1–13, posterior accessory claws moderately thicker and strong, no claws on legs 14 and 15; setae scattered sparsely on the surface of all legs, fewer setae on both the dorsal and the ventral side; a few slightly to indistinctly thickened setae encircling the distal margin of coxa and prefemur, many long setae arranged regularly on tarsus, one row of thicker, longer setae regularly arranged on the medial ventral side of basitarsus, two rows of thicker, longer setae arranged on the medial ventral side of distitarsus, a shallow channel between the two rows of setae; few moderatly longer setae on tarsus of legs 14 and 15, without setae arranged in rows. Distitarsus 6.2 times longer than wide, about 70.5% length of tarsus on leg 15. Leg spinulation as in Table 2 .

Letters in brackets indicate variable spines.

Coxal pores from elliptical to round, small to moderately large, 20–31 irregularly arranged coxal pores. Coxal pore field set in a moderately deep groove, usually with very sparse, long setae along the rim of the groove.

Sternal setae evidently beginning with the 10th sternite, those of the 14 th sternite the thickest, 15th sternite distinctly less so, with some irregularly sunken setae, more distinct in the posterior part of the sternite. Male 15th sternite posteromedially straight, posterior angles comparatively rounded, nearly trapezoid, fringed with few short to long setae along the posterior margin; one long, slender seta on each posterior angle; sternite of the genital segment usually well sclerotised, slightly wider than long. Posterior margin moderately deeply concave between the condyles of gonopods, no bulge medially; setae fairly evenly scattered on the ventral surface of the genital segment; gonopods short and small, as small digitiform protuberance, with 6–8 long setae on the surface, tip slightly sclerotised ( Fig. 10 ).

Material examined. 1ɗ, Baiyunzhanfanghuodao, Dongzhai Town, Luoshan County, Henan Province, 32°12'N 114°30'E, 16 July 2005, leg. Zhi-sheng Zhang.

Distribution: China (Henan), Japan.

Figures

FIGURES 6 – 10. Bothropolys montanus Verhoeff, 1938, 6, male, dorsal view, scale 1 mm; 7, ocelli and Tömösváry’s organ (7 - To), right lateral view, scale 250 mm; 8, maxilliped coxosternum, ventral view, scale 500 mm; 9, dental margin of maxilliped coxosternum, ventral view, scale 250 mm; 10, male, posterior segments and gonopods, ventral view, scale 500 mm.

Tables

TABLE 2. Spinulation of B. montanus.

ventral				dorsal
C Tr	P	F	t	C Tr	P	F	t
1–2	mp	amp	am		amp	ap	a
3–8	mp	amp	am		amp	ap	ap
9–10 (m)	mp	amp	am		amp	ap	ap
11 m	mp	amp	am	a	amp	ap	ap
12–13 m	amp	amp	am	a	amp	p	p
14 am m	amp	am	a	a	amp	p	p
15 am m	amp	am	a	a	amp	p