Julus alexandrae Evsyukov, 2016

Figs 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 8A–B, 14A, 15A, 16A, 17A, Map 1

Julus alexandrae Evsyukov, 2016a: 243 (D).

Diagnosis. Differs from other species of the genus by the following combination of characters. Promere (pr) with a lamella (la) in middle part, rounded and apically gently angular (Fig. 8A). Distal part of opisthomere (op) with small lamellae (Fig. 8B). Metazonae with rough and deep striations (Fig. 16A). Ampullae of female vulvae (am1 and am2) subequal; female leg-pair 2 (l2) without coxal processes (Fig. 17A).

Descriptive notes. See Evsyukov (2016a) and Figs 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 8A–B, 14A, 15A, 16A, 17A.

Length of adults 17–19 mm, width 1.4–1.6 mm. Number of segments in adults from 48+1+T to 50+1+T. Body dark brown, more intensely pigmented dorsally, lighter on ventral side; legs brownish yellow; antennae and anal valves reddish brown. Eye patches composed of ca 45 ocelli. Metazonae with rough and deep striae (Fig. 16A).

Antennae long and slender, in situ reaching back to body segment 4. Antennomere 5 with a corolla of 8 bacilliform sensilla (Fig. 1A). Stipites of gnathochilarium with a paramedian pair of 3–4 setae per group parabasally, below mentum (Fig. 2A).

Male leg-pair 1 small, subtriangular (Fig. 3A), suture between coxa (cx) and a 1-segmented telopodite remnant (te) weakly expressed; cx without lateral process; te with several thin setae. Male leg-pair 2 with two coxal processes (Fig. 4A): anterolateral process (alp) short and slender; main process (mp) long, both the latter slightly diverging. Penes short, moderately bifurcated apically.

All three parts of each gonopod (Fig. 8B) forming a tight block. Promere (pr) higher than opisthomere (op), flagella (fl) well-developed, thick and somewhat ribbon-shaped; op with a basal, long, spike-like projection caudally and a thin, twisted and curved outgrowth (lo) laterally; pr without telopodite remnant, narrowed basally, with a lamella (la) laterally, rounded and gently angular apically (Fig. 8A). Mesomere (ms) simple, short, rounded at apex. Lateral outgrowth (lo) of op higher than both ms and remaining op (Fig. 14A).

Ventral edge of male segment 7 with small curved lamellae bordering the gonopodal aperture (Fig. 15A).

Female vulvae (vu) densely setose (Fig. 17A). Operculum (op) M-shaped in apical part, bursa (bu) rounded at upper edges, ampullae (am1 and am2) subequal. Female leg-pair 2 (l2) without coxal processes.

Remarks. The species was described, based on material from two localities in the Rostov-on-Don Region, southern Russia (Evsyukov 2016a). This species is very similar to the European J. scanicus Lohmander, 1925 and J. terrestris Linnaeus, 1758 (cf. Schubart 1934), both in Julus s. str. (Lohmander 1936), and thus it clearly represents a European element in the fauna of northern Ciscaucasia.

The above shortened description and accompanying illustrations repeat information contained in Evsyukov (2016a), because no new material has been found since. Even though strictly speaking this is a European congener, its provenance from so close to the Caucasus proper warrants its incorporation into the present overview at least for comparative purposes.