Desmoxytoides hasenpuschorum, Mesibov, Robert, 2006

Mesibov, Robert, 2006, Dirt-encrusted and dragon millipedes (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae) from Queensland, Australia, Zootaxa 1354, pp. 31-44 : 33-37

Desmoxytoides hasenpuschorum n. sp.

Figs. 1 , 2 ; map Fig. 7

Holotype: Male, Mt Hosie, Kirrama Range , Queensland, 18°11’S 145°45’E, 930 m, 11.xii.1986, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 733 , QM S73961 .

Paratypes: QM: 4 males, details as for holotype, QM S73962 ; 2 females, details as for holotype, QM S73963 ; stadium VII male, Kirrama Range , 18°10’S 145°45’E, 700 m, 9.xii.1986, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 730 , QM S73964 ; 4 males, near Yuccabine Creek , Kirrama Range, 18°10’S 145°45’E, 800–850 m, 10.xii.1986, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 732 , QM S73965 ; 2 males , Mt Pershouse , Kirrama Range, 18°12’S 145°45’E, 930 m, 12.xii.1986, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 734 , QM S73966 ; 4 males, same details, QM berlesate 735 , QM S73967 .

Other material examined: QM: 3 males , female, Mt Father Clancy , 9 km S of Millaa Millaa, 17°35’S 145°38’E, 1000 m, 6.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 812 , QM S73968 ; male, female, stadium VII male, Downey Creek , 25 km SE of Millaa Millaa, 17°39’S 145°47’E, 400 m, 7.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 813 , QM S73969 ; female, Upper Boulder Creek , 8 km N of Tully, 17°50’S 145°55’E, 1100 m, 7.xii.1989, G. Monteith, G. Thompson & H. Janetzki, rainforest, litter, QM berlesate 829 , QM S73970 ; male, Isley Hills , 17°03’S 145°42’E, 1050 m, 1.xii.1993, G. Monteith & H. Janetzki, rainforest, sieved litter & moss, QM berlesate 866, QM S73971 ; male, Millaa Lookout , 17°31’S 145°34’E, 1000 m, 1.xii.1993 – 25.ii.1994, J. Hasenpusch, rainforest, pitfall, QM S73972 ; 2 males, female, stadium VII male, Maalan Road , 1.5 km S of Palmerston Highway, 17°36’S 145°42’E, 750 m, 26.xi.1994, G. Monteith, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 879, QM 46996 ; male, Maalan State Forest, on highway , 17°35’S 145°35’E, 850 m, 25.xi.1994 – 10.i.1995, G. Monteith & J. Hasenpusch, rainforest, pitfall, QM S37553 .

ANIC: stadium VII male , 20 km S of Ravenshoe , 17°49’S 145°32’E, 800 m, 3.vii.1971, R. Taylor & J. Feehan, rainforest, ANIC berlesate 358, ANIC 64-000011 ; stadium VI female, Koombooloomba , 17°50’S 145°36’E, 750 m, 4.vii.1971, R. Taylor & J. Feehan, rainforest, ANIC berlesate 359 , ANIC 64-000012 ; 3 females, ca. 12 km SE of Millaa Millaa , 17°31’S 145°37’E, 600 m, 5.vii.1971, R. Taylor & J. Feehan, rainforest, ANIC berlesate 362 , ANIC 64-000013 ; 3 females, 2 stadium VII males, McNamee Creek , 17°40’S 145°48’E, 400 m, 8.vii.1971, R. Taylor & J. Feehan, rainforest, ANIC berlesate 365, ANIC 64-000014 ; 4 males, 2 females, stadium VI female, 12 km W of Millaa Millaa on Ravenshoe Road , 17°28’S 145°33’E, 1.xii.1977, A. Walford-Huggins, rainforest, ANIC berlesate 652, ANIC 64-000015 .

Description: Male/female approximate measurements: length 10/ 12 mm, maximum vertical diameter 0.9/1.3 mm, maximum width across paranota 1.3/1.6 mm. Well-coloured specimens in alcohol dark chestnut brown above, grading to very pale yellow beneath; pale on clypeus, margins and ventral sides of paranota, basal podomeres, all of ring 18, and telson apart from dorsal surface of epiproct. Head moderately setose, wider than collum; vertigial sulcus to level of top of antennal sockets; sockets only slightly impressed ventrolaterally, separated by about one socket diameter. Antenna ( Fig. 2 B) long, robust (thicker than legs); antennomeres 2–6 nearly equal in length; antennomere 6 the widest. Collum in dorsal view strongly convex anteriorly, slightly convex posteriorly, corners broadly rounded; slightly wider than rings 2 and 3 overall, about as wide as ring 4; with 3 transverse sets of large setiferous tubercles: 6 in a recurved anterior row, 2 near the midline and 8 in a procurved posterior row. Ring 5 distinctly wider than ring 4; ring widths increasing gradually to ring 17. Waist pronounced ( Figs. 1 A, 1D), not marked with longitudinal striations. Prozonites with honeycomb surface texture ( Fig. 1 B), metazonites sparsely covered with small tubercles, ca. 10–12 µm in diameter ( Figs. 1 A, 1E). Metatergites of all rings with 4 large, finger-like, setiferous tubercles anterior to welldefined transverse furrow, and 4 behind furrow ( Fig. 1 D); rings 2 and 3 sometimes with 2+3 tubercles in the posterior row. Paranota ( Figs. 1 A, 1D) on all rings wide, tilted slightly upwards, on most rings marginally divided into 3 large processes: a broad anterior process with a few small, blunt teeth on anterior edge; a middle, bluntly conical process with a large apical seta; and a posterolaterally directed, bluntly conical process with a bluntly conical tooth (equal in size to or smaller than the middle paranotal process, but not setiferous) arising from its anterior edge near the base. Spiracles small, cup-shaped, densely filled with extremely minute, bluntly pointed processes, the filling slightly protruding in dorsal half of spiracle ( Fig. 1 E). Ozopore a simple large pore opening laterally at mid-length on largest, most posterior paranotal process ( Fig. 1 A); pore formula 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15–19. Sternites lightly setose, slightly wider than long, with only a faint transverse impression. Posterior metazonite margin more or less smooth (limbus not developed). Legs ( Fig. 2 A) slender with long femora and tarsi; tarsus the longest podomere, ending in a relatively small claw; no modification of leg 5, 6 or 7 femur. Preanal ring ( Fig. 1 C) with several large setae arising from prominent tubercles; hypoproct more or less trapezoidal; epiproct short, caudal edge straight; spinnerets ( Adis et al. 2000) in square array.

Male with large gonopore opening distally and medially on leg 2 coxa, no process on leg 1 femur. Ring 5 sternal lamella (between legs 4) short, trapezoidal, posterior surface bare and with 2 large pores. Gonopods ( Figs. 1 B, 2C; see note in Fig. 1 B caption) small, in situ barely reaching to leg 7 bases. Aperture nearly closed medially by rounded projections from anterior and posterior rims. Gonocoxae fairly long, slightly crooked (convex anteriorly), with long setae distally on anterior surface. Cannula prominent, inserting medially at base of telopodite. Basal portion of telopodite (“prefemur”) setose on medial and posterior surfaces, slightly convex posteriorly and indented laterobasally, slightly overlapping base of distal portion of telopodite on posterior side. Distal portion bare, straight and more or less cylindrical basally, divided at about mid-length into a larger, posterior, medially curving solenomere (see note in Fig. 1 B caption) with a few minute, irregular teeth at tip, and a smaller, anterior, spine-like process, in medial or lateral view parallel to the solenomere and terminating just basal to the top of the solenomere’s arc.

Prostatic groove ( Fig. 2 C) running on medial side of telopodite to anterior side of solenomere base, from here spiralling posterodistally on lateral side of solenomere, then anterodistally on medial side before following curve in solenomere and terminating at its tip.

Female with very low, broad extension of rim of epigynum; cyphopods not examined.

Distribution and habitat: Known from 16 sites in tropical rainforest from the Isley Hills southwest of Cairns to the Kirrama Range inland from Cardwell in north Queensland ( Fig. 7 ), an approximate linear range of 150 km and an elevation range of 400–1100 m.

Etymology: In honour of Jack and Sue Hasenpusch, entomological collectors and founders of the Australian Insect Farm, near Innisfail in tropical north Queensland.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Desmoxytoides hasenpuschorum n. gen., n. sp. (A) lateral view of midbody ring; (B) posteroventral view of gonopods in situ; (C) ventral view of telson; (D) dorsal view of midbody ring; (E) enlargement of (A) showing spiracles and metazonite microtubercles (males, QM S 73968). Note: the ends of the gonopod telopodites shown in Fig. 1 B have rotated during drying; in alcohol-preserved material the curve of the telopodite lies in a nearly transverse plane, as shown in Fig. 2 C. Scale bar for (A) – (D) = 0.25 mm, for (E) = 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 2. Desmoxytoides hasenpuschorum n. gen., n. sp. (A) leg 6, (B) antenna, (C) anteromedial view of right gonopod telopodite (male paratypes, QM S 73967). Setation not shown; dashed line in (C) indicates course of prostatic groove. Scale bar for (A) and (B) = 0.5 mm, for (C) = 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 7. Localities for Desmoxytoides hasenpuschorum n. gen., n. sp. (left, squares), Tholerosoma monteithi n. gen., n. sp. (centre, triangles) and T. corrugatum n. sp. (centre, stars). Rectangle in Australia map (right) shows boundary of main maps.