Pseudotremia tuberculata Loomis

Shear, William A., 2011, Cave millipeds of the United States. X. New species and records of the genus Pseudotremia Cope. 2. Species from Virginia, USA (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida, Cleidogonidae), Zootaxa 3109, pp. 1-38 : 18

Pseudotremia tuberculata Loomis

P. tuberculata Loomis 1939 , p. 171; Shear, 1972, p. 184.

Type locality: Cassel Farm Cave, Burkes Garden, Tazewell Co., VIRGINIA. Male holotype in MCZ.

New records: VIRGINIA: Tazewell Co.: Higginbotham’s Cave #1, 29 October 1994, D. Hubbard, 3, ƤƤ; Cassell Farm Cave #2, 2 March 2000, D. Hubbard, 3 ƤƤ; Fallen Rock Cave, 5 mi SE of Pounding Mill, 12 August 1977, J. Holsinger, L. Ferguson, 3 ff; Steele’s Cave, 15 August 1977, J. Holsinger, D. Culver, 3 ƤƤ; Chimney Rock Cave, 29 February 2000, D. Hubbard, 3; Hugh Young Cave, 2.5 mi SW of Liberty, 30 April 1972, J. Holsinger. Russell Co.: Carpender’s Cave, 8 April 1997, D. Hubbard, 3; Smith Cave, 16 August 1972, J. Holsinger, D. Culver, 3 ƤƤ; Ward’s Cove Cave, 15 February 2005, W. Orndorff, 3; Amos Cave, 4 May 1999, D. Hubbard, 3 Ƥ.

Notes: Pseudotremia tuberculata is a troglophilic species, one of the larger ones at about 30 mm in length for males, and with very rough tuberculation of the metazonites. It appears to dominate in the upper reaches of the Clinch River drainage. Burkes Garden and Elk Garden are two anticlinal valleys (these are called “gardens” in southwest Virginia) formed when erosion breached the broad tops of sandstone and shale ridges, exposing limestone beneath which rapidly eroded to produce a closed basin, or one with only a single outlet. Most of the drainage in these “gardens” is subterranean.