Algerophilus Brolemann, 1925

Bonato, Lucio, Voigtländer, Karin & Minelli, Alessandro, 2012, Algerophilus, a neglected lineage of Western Mediterranean centipedes (Chilopoda: Geophilidae), Zootaxa 3235, pp. 23-34 : 24-26

Algerophilus Brolemann, 1925

Algerophilus: Brolemann 1925 (p. 251 original description), 1931 (p. 308, 311 diagnosis), 1947 (p. 174). Type species. Geophilus hispanicus Meinert, 1870 , by monotypy.

Other species included. None.

Description. Geophilids with body uniform in width in the anterior part, tapering gradually towards the posterior end; head longer than wide; clypeus uniformly areolate, without clypeal areas; intermediate part of labrum with sclerotised tubercles; labral lateral parts distinct from the clypeus, separated from each other, the posterior margin with bristles; first maxillae with bi-articulated telopodites and two pairs of lappets; second maxillary coxosternite with long isthmus, without inner processes, and lacking distinctly sclerotised ridges; second maxillary telopodites composed of three articles, bearing a simple, subconic claw, bent in its distal half; forcipular tergite subtrapezoid, posteriorly almost as wide as the subsequent tergite, the lateral margins distinctly converging anteriorly; forcipular coxosternite slightly wider than long, without anterior denticles; coxopleural sutures complete, almost subparallel in their anterior half; chitin-lines incomplete, pointing forwards externally to the condyles; forcipules relatively elongate, overreaching the anterior margin of the head, with two distinct intermediate articles; forcipular tarsungula uniformely curved, with a small basal denticle; no denticles on the other forcipular articles; carpophagus pits distinct; leg-bearing segments with a transverse band of pores close to the posterior margin of each metasternite; leg claws bearing two slender accessory spines, the anterior spine reaching the mid-length of the entire pretarsus; ultimate leg-bearing segment with pleuropretergite entire, metasternite subtrapezoid and wider than those of preceding segments; coxal pores of each coxopleuron clustered into an elongate pouch opening on the ventral side under the metasternite and running along the lateral margin of the latter; telopodites of the ultimate pair comprising six articles, distinctly swollen in the male but slender in the female, bearing a claw; bi-articulated gonopods in the male, short gonopodal lamina in the female; no anal pores. See also Figs 1–12 .

Diagnosis. Of all the other known geophilid genera, Algerophilus is more similar to Geophilus Leach, 1814 and Tuoba Chamberlin, 1920 ( Table 1), and has been confused with both (see below). Algerophilus differs from Geophilus mainly in the arrangement of the coxal pores (never opening into common pouches in Geophilus ), the elongation of the accessory spines of the leg claws (relatively shorter in Geophilus ), and the anal pores (almost invariably detected in adult Geophilus ); moreover, it differs from the type species of Geophilus , namely G. e l e c t r i - cus ( Linnaeus, 1758), as well as from most of the other Geophilus species, also in the general shape and elongation of the forcipular coxosternite (relatively shorter, with coxopleural sutures distinctly diverging forwards, in most Geophilus species including the type species G. electricus ). Algerophilus differs from Tuoba mainly in the elongation of the head (about as long as wide in Tuoba ), the shape and features of the forcipular coxosternite (stouter, with complete chitin-lines and the coxopleural sutures distinctly diverging forwards, in Tuoba ), and the shape of the coxal pouches (non-elongate in Tuoba ); moreover, it differs from the type species of Tuoba , namely T. sydneyensis ( Pocock, 1891) , as well as from most of the other Tuoba species, also in the chitin-lines (complete and reaching the condyles in almost all Tuoba species including T. sydneyensis ).

type species; alternative conditions found in other species of the genus are given in parentheses.

genus Algerophilus Geophilus Leach, 1814 Tuoba Chamberlin, 1920 Brolemann, 1925

type species Geophilus hispanicus Scolopendra electrica Linnaeus, 1758 Tuoba curticeps Chamberlin, Meinert, 1870 1920 [syn. of T. sydneyensis ( Pocock, 1891) ]

Taxonomic history. The genus Algerophilus was introduced by Brolemann (1925) for the single species Geophilus hispanicus Meinert, 1870 . Three other species were later assigned to Algerophilus , at least provisionally, by Brolemann (1931) himself, namely Geophilus xylophagus Attems, 1903 , Geophilus hartmeyeri Attems, 1911 and Algerophilus leptochilus Brolemann, 1931 . All three species, however, were recognized later as belonging to a distinct genus, which has been variously referred to as either Tuoba Chamberlin, 1920 or its junior synonym Nesogeophilus Verhoeff, 1924 ( Attems 1929, 1947; Crabill 1968; Jones 1998). As a side effect, the genus name Algerophilus was either ignored or explicitly synonymized under either Tuoba or Nesogeophilus ( Demange 1963, 1981; Jones 1998; Bonato & Minelli 2010), although without clarifying the true identity of the type species G. h i s - panicus. As a matter of fact, Algerophilus was never mentioned as a valid genus by authors other than Brolemann, and never after Brölemann (1947).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. Algerophilus hispanicus (Meinert, 1870). (1) Anterior part of the body, dorsal. (2) Posterior part of the body in the female, dorsal. (3) Head and forcipular segment, without antennae, dorsal. (4) Head and forcipular segment, without antennae, ventral. (5) Ultimate leg-bearing segment, without telopodites, ventral. Specimens: 1, 2, Ƥ from “ Sevilla, Granada ”, Spain, 51 mm long, with 61 leg pairs (one of the syntypes); 3 – 5, Ƥ from Sétif, Algeria, 35 mm long, with 59 leg pairs.

FIGURES 6 – 12. Algerophilus hispanicus (Meinert, 1870). (6) Anterior part of head, without maxillary complex, ventral. (7) Maxillary complex, ventral. (8) Forcipular segment, dorsal, setae omitted. (9) Forcipular segment, ventral, setae omitted. (10) An anterior leg-bearing segment (11 out of a total 59), without legs, ventral, setae omitted. (11) Ultimate leg-bearing segment and postpedal segments in the female, ventral, setae omitted. (12) Ultimate leg-bearing segment and postpedal segments in the male, ventral, setae omitted. Specimens: 6 – 9,11, Ƥ from “ Sevilla, Granada ”, Spain, 51 mm long, with 61 leg pairs (one of the syntypes); 10, Ƥ from Sétif, Algeria, 35 mm long, with 59 leg pairs; 12, ♂ from “ Sevilla, Granada ”, Spain, 36 mm long, with 57 leg pairs (one of the syntypes).