Neocricus striolatus ( Gervais, 1847 ) Mauriès & Golovatch & Hoffman, 2001

Mauriès, Jean-Paul, Golovatch, Sergei I. & Hoffman, Richard L., 2001, On type material and the identity of several Iulus species described by Paul Gervais, in the collection of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida, Spirobolida), Zoosystema 23 (3), pp. 579-589 : 586-588

Genus Neocricus Chamberlin, 1941 Neocricus striolatus ( Gervais, 1847) n. comb. ( Fig. 4 )

Iulus striolatus Gervais, 1847: 192 ; 1859: 23, pl. 4, fig. 2. TYPE MATERIAL. — N° H 157, 1 holotype .

TYPE LOCALITY. — Presumption of Colombia as the country of origin of N. striolatus seems warrantable, as three other Iulus species described by Gervais (1847) are based on Colombian material, all taken by Justin Goudot, i.e. I. roseus , I. vermiformis , and I. leucopus .

REMARKS

The male holotype (holotype status presumed from absence of data on variation in neither in size, segment counts, nor leg number in the descriptions alone [ Gervais 1847, 1859]), is stat- ed to derive from South America, with neither a more precise indication of country or collector.

Study of the structure of the posterior gonopods ( Fig. 4C, D ) of striolatus leaves no doubt that it is a species of Neocricus Chamberlin, 1941 . This genus currently comprises 13 nominal species, most of them obviously synonyms, in Colombia and Venezuela ( Hoffman 1980). Judged from the shape of the median sternal process and the conspicuously setose distal part of the median piece of the anterior gonopod coxite ( Fig. 4A, B ), N. striolatus seems very close to if not identical with Rhinocricus instabilis Carl, 1914 , from Colombia. However, it is premature to synonymize these names until the respective types have been re-examined side-by-side for possible differences in body form. Based on the original description and illustrations of instabilis ( Carl 1914) , it is likewise impossible to extract all details of gonopod structure necessary for comparative study. Thus, in N. striolatus both anteri- or and posterior gonopods seem considerably stouter, and the distal part of the femorite of the anterior gonopods is setose like the medial coxal piece. The close similarity of Neocricus striolatus to Rhinocricus instabilis provides further circumstantial evidence.

Since R. instabilis has not been relocated into a “modern” genus, our present placement in Neocricus constitutes a new combination.

Figures

FIG. 4. — Neocricus striolatus (Gervais, 1847), holotype; A, gonopods (front view); B, anterior gonopods (caudal view); C, D, left posterior gonopod (lateral and mesal, respectively). Scale bar: 2.0 mm.