Iulidesmus florezi, Romero-Rincon & Golovatch, 2024

Romero-Rincon, Juan & Golovatch, Sergei I., 2024, The millipede genus Iulidesmus Silvestri, 1895 in Colombia (Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae, Catharosomatini), Zootaxa 5415 (1), pp. 56-76 : 63-65

Iulidesmus florezi new species

Figs 6 , 7 , 14

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Diagnosis. This new species seems to be particularly similar to both I. minerus n. sp. and I. sabaneta n. sp., but differs in a missing gonopodal postfemoral sulcus, a bilobate apical part of the solenophore (sph), and a totally pallid general coloration.

Name. To honor Professor Eduardo Flórez, important arachnologist and the pioneer in Colombian myriapodology.

Material examined.

Holotype. COLOMBIA ● ♂; Bolivar , Hacienda El Ceibal (10°37′20.519′′N, 75°14′30.671′′W), 20 m asl; October 1999; E. Flórez leg. day and night-time hand collection; (ICN-MD-397).

Paratype. COLOMBIA ● ♂; same data as holotype; (ICN-MD-2915) .

Description. Length of holotype, 23.6 mm, width of midbody metazona, 2.9 mm. Coloration in alcohol pale greenish yellow 104. Antennae and legs greenish white 153.

Body strongylosomoid, not moniliform, with poorly developed paraterga ( Fig. 6 ). Postcollar constriction evident; in width, head <ring 2 – 4 <collum <5 – 16; on rings 17 –20, trunk tapering towards telson, ring 19 very strongly reduced, ca 1/3 the size of the previous ring. Antennae long, claviform, in situ almost reaching the end of ring 4 ( Fig. 6 ); in length, antennomeres 4>5>6=3>2>1=7.

Paraterga set low (at about half midbody height), considerably larger on pore-bearing rings than on poreless ones, never projecting caudally past rear tergal margin, flattened and decreasing in size only from ring 17 towards telson. Transverse mid-dorsal sulci present on rings 5–17, very faint, thin lines not reaching the bases of paraterga. Ozopores lateral, invisible from above, located inside ovoid grooves, lying on paraterga at ca 1/4 metazonital length off caudal edge. Tegument generally smooth, 2+2 short setae or their insertion points anteriorly in one transverse row on each postcollar metatergum.

Sterna largely with obvious cross-impressions, slightly setose, sternal cones almost invisible due to the coloration of the individuals, but traceable between coxae 3–5 (male), cones approximately the same in size, very small, flattened and with short setae ( Fig. 6B ). Legs very long (ca 1.3 times longer than midbody height), tarsal brushes present on all legs of the body, but less evident on rings 17 and 18, coxae and prefemora each with a conspicuous long seta ventro-apically. Femora with faint adenostyles in legs 4–6. In length, prefemur = femur> tarsus> postfemur> tibia.

Gonopod ( Fig. 7 ) relatively simple. Coxite (cx) subcylindrical, without ventral subtransverse ridge at midway, not elongate, setose distoventrally; cannula (ca) normal, tubiform. Prefemorite (pfe) much shorter than femorite, densely setose; fe demarcated clearly basally from pfe and distally by a distofemoral sulcus (su1), an incomplete sulcus located also near 1/3 at base of fe. Solenophore (sph) directed medially, large, long and flattened, apical lobe (lo) shorter, almost invisible in medial view, slightly demarcated by su1 basally and by a postfemoral sulcus (su2) distally. Lamina medialis (lm) shorter and smaller than lamina lateralis (ll); su2 marking the beginning of solenomere (sl) inside lm; solenomere (sl) fully sheathed distally by both laminae.

Remarks. The new species clearly falls into group V, subgroup 3c of Jeekel (1963), together with I. venezuelanus ( Verhoeff, 1938) [= I. araguanus ( Chamberlin, 1952) , synonymized by Jeekel (2002), also probably synonymous with I. acariguensis ( González-Sponga, 2004) , from Venezuela ( González-Sponga 2004)], and both I. minerus n. sp. and I. sabaneta n. sp. sharing the gonopod sph being curved and bilobate apically to form an almost complete circle, but it differs from the former species by an incomplete sulcus on the fe and a larger pfe, from the latter species by the absence of k in the lateral part of sph and the latter without visible overlapping elements in the apical part.

Distribution. Only known from the type locality ( Fig. 14 ).

Figures

FIGURE 6. Iulidesmus florezi n. sp., male holotype (ICN-MD-397). A. Habitus in dorsal view. B. Habitus in ventral view. Scale bar: 4 mm.

FIGURE 7. Left gonopod of Iulidesmus florezi n. sp., male holotype (ICN-MD-397). A, D. Mesal view. B, E. Ventral view. C, F. Lateral view. Abbreviations: ca: cannula, cx: coxite, fe: femorite, ll: lamina lateralis, lm: lamina medialis, lo: apical lobe, pfe: prefemorite, sl: solenomere, sph: solenophore, su1: distofemoral sulcus, su2: postfemoral sulcus. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 14. Distribution map of six new species of Iulidesmus Silvestri, 1895 in Colombia.