Boraria profuga ( Causey, 1955 )

Shelley, Rowland M., McAllister, Chris T., Nagy, Christopher M., Weckel, Mark E., Christie, Roderick G., Wilson, Paul & Wilson, Allan, 2011, Distribution of the American milliped genus Boraria Chamberlin, 1943: Introductions of B. stricta (Brölemann, 1896) in New York and B infesta (Chamberlin, 1918) in Connecticut; indigenous occurrence of B profuga (Causey, 1955) in Louisiana (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae)., Insecta Mundi 2011 (194), pp. 1-8 : 6

Boraria profuga ( Causey, 1955) (Fig. 10-11)

Distribution. Boraria profuga comprises two allopatric populations, one in the Ouachita Plateau of Montgomery Co., Arkansas, and the other some 298 km (180 mi) to the southeast in the Gulf Coastal Plain of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana (Fig. 12). As individuals were found exactly four years apart in exactly the same spot, the Louisiana population may be larger and cover a more extensive area. Field work is needed in Ouachita, neighboring parishes, and intervening Arkansas counties, which have received little attention and may or may not harbor the milliped. Published records. Arkansas: Montgomery Co. ( Causey 1955, Chamberlin and Hoffman 1958, Hoffman and Shear 1969, Hoffman 1999). New records. Arkansas: Montgomery Co., no further locality, 3M, F, 31 March – 8 April 1956, S. Finklestein (FSCA); and near Joplin, 16.8 km (10.5 mi) ESE Mt. Ida, Gap Creek Picnic Area, Ouachita National Forest (34 o 54’N, 93 o 47’W), M, 27 November 2009, C.T. McAllister (NCSM). Louisiana: Ouachita Par., Monroe, 1410 Forsythe St., M, 31 December 1974, and “on wet porch after three days of rain,” 6M, 2F, 31 December 1978, J.E. and M.R. Cooper (NCSM). New State Record. Remarks. Boraria profuga is diagnosed by the variably enlarged, distolateral acropodal shoul- der (Fig. 10-11). According to Causey (1955), the type series, collected at Mt. Ida, Montgomery Co., Figure 12-13. Distributions of Boraria spp. 12) Dots, B. Arkansas, on 14 April 1954, consisted of three stricta ; Triangle, B. infesta ; Stars, B. profuga . The area of

concentration in the southern Appalachian region males, three females, and one juvenile. The male

corresponds to the range of B. stricta and encloses B. infesta holotype was deposited in the AMNH, where it re-

and B. deturkiana except for the southern protrusion into mains today, and the remaining specimens, the Tennessee, denoted by the arrow, which represents B. only designated paratypes, were housed in her per- infesta . 13) Distributions of Boraria spp. in the general sonal collection, which was transferred to the southern Appalachian region. Heavy bold line and FSCA in 1979. Two male, two female, and one ju- separated dots, B. stricta ; dashed line, B. infesta ; dotted venile paratypes are present today in the FSCA, line, B. deturkiana . so apparently, one female is lost. The FSCA also contains specimens collected in 1956 from Montgomery Co. in general. Despite intensive sampling in the Ouachita National Forest in and around Montgomery Co. by Dr. Causey and CTM and associates, B. profuga was not encountered there again, or anywhere in Arkansas, until 2009, a span of 53 years. The lone individual, discovered under a large rock on sandy to sandy loamish soil in an oak/hickory forest, proves that the Ouachita population still exists and should be expected in western Garland Co., only 4.5 km (2.8 mi) to the east. However, B. profuga is difficult to find there and seems legitimately rare; it may warrant formal conservation status, which has never been accorded a diplopod.