Rhysida paucidens Pocock, 1897

Simaiakis, Stylianos Michail & Edgecombe, Gregory D., 2013, Scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) in the Natural History Museum (London): A review of the hitherto unidentified species collected in Africa, with remarks on taxonomy and distribution, and a new species of Otostigmus (Parotostigmus), Zootaxa 3734 (2), pp. 169-198 : 183

14. Rhysida paucidens Pocock, 1897

( Figs 23–26 )

Material examined. Ethiopia (Abyssinia): Abyssinia, 1926, leg. J. Omer-Cooper, 1 ex., BMNH 1953.2.14.514; Ethiopia (Abyssinia): Adda Snores of Hora Harsadi , 3/12/1926, leg. J. Omer-Cooper, 1 ex., BMNH 1953.2.14.515; Sudan: Erkowit , c. 50 m S.E. of Sinkat, December 1960, leg. J.L. Cloudsley-Thompson, 1 ex., BMNH ?. ( Fig. 22 ).

Type locality. Ethiopia (Loga in the Arusha Galla country) ( Minelli et al. 2006).

General distribution. Northeast Tropical Africa: Eritrea (ER), Ethiopia ( ET), Sudan (SD); Asia Temperate: Arabian Peninsula, Oman ( OM); Asia Tropical: India ( IN) "Vorderindien, Pondichery " ( Attems 1930; Lewis and Gallegher 1993; Minelli et al. 2006).

Remarks. Specimens studied here fit fully within the variation encompassed by previous descriptions (following the synonymy by Lewis and Gallagher 1993). The Ethiopian specimens have 19 antennal articles, three of which are glabrous ( Fig. 23 ), 5+5 forcipular teeth ( Fig. 24 ), continuous paramedian sutures from TT 5–20, paramedian sutures confined to a short anterior extent on the sternites, the diagnostic three prefemoral spines (1VL, 1VM, 1 DM) confined to the proximal half of the prefemur ( Fig. 25 ), the coxopleural process with two apical spines but no dorsal or lateral spines ( Fig. 26 ), two tarsal spurs on legs 1–18, and one tibial spur on legs 1–4.

Lewis and Gallagher (1993) followed Attems (1930) in treating R. paucidens as a subspecies of R. lithobioides ( Newport, 1845) , resulting in a geographically widespread species distributed from China through India and East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula. They noted, however, that the nominate subspecies (from East Asia) was “quite distinct from the others” (1993: 59), and we regard the cited differences in the number of legs bearing two tarsal spurs and prefemoral spine numbers and distributions, as sufficient to defend separate species status. Accordingly we returned R. lithobioides paucidens to the species level (as in Kraepelin 1903).

Figures

FIGURE 22. Rhysida afra, R. longicornis, R. longipes longipes, R. paucidens, R. stuhlmanni stuhlmanni and R. togoensis, distribution records of specimens from Africa housed in the NHM collection.

FIGURES 23–29. Figs 23–26. Rhysida paucidens Pocock, 1897. BMNH 1953.2.14.515 (Ethiopia): Figure 23, cephalic plate and T1, dorsal view, scale bar 1 mm; Figure 24, forcipular segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm; Figure 25, ultimate leg prefemur, scale bar 0.5 mm; Figure 26, coxopleuron and sternite of ultimate leg-bearing segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm. Figs 27–29. Rhysida stuhlmanni stuhlmanni Kraepelin, 1903. BMNH 94.1.15.39 (Malawi): Figure 27, cephalic plate and T1, dorsal view, scale bar 1 mm; Figure 28, forcipular segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm; Figure 29, coxopleuron and sternite of ultimate leg-bearing segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm.