Bothropolys curvatus Takakuwa, 1939 New Chinese

Ma, Hui-Qin, Song, Da-Xiang & Zhu, Ming-Sheng, 2008, A review of the Chinese species of Bothropolys Wood, 1862 (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae), Zootaxa 1786, pp. 35-47 : 37-38

Bothropolys curvatus Takakuwa, 1939 New Chinese records

Takakuwa, 1939: 104, 109; 1940: 43.

Diagnosis: Body length 18.6 mm, antennae composed of 22+18 antennomeres; 22+23 ocelli arranged in 4 rows on each side; Tömösváry’s organ rounded, small, moderately smaller than the adjoining ocelli; 8+9 blunt, triangular prosternal teeth, porodonts between the fourth and fifth outer teeth; posterior angles of T 4 feebly triangular, posterior angles of TT 6 and 7 moderately triangular, posterior angles of TT 9, 11 and 13 sharply triangular; pretarsus of all legs with claws; anterior and posterior accessory claws on claws of legs 1– 13; no accessory claws on legs 14 and 15; coxal pores round or ovate, 7–14 coxal pores irregularly arranged; male gonopods short and thick, only as digitiform protuberance, with 1 long seta, terminally slightly sclerotised.

Description: Body length: 18.6 mm.

Colour: basal antennal article lavender, succeeding antennomeres showing transition to darker colour, subterminal 2–3 antennomeres orange, terminal antennomere orange with purple hue; tergites pale brown, head shield and T 15 red brown, TT 1 and 14 darker, pleural region offwhite; sternites gray with lightly pale yellow; tip of maxillipeds black, other parts of maxillipeds, coxosternum and sternite 15 red-brown; all legs light gray with purple hue, femur, tibia, and basitarsus darker.

Antennae composed of 22+18 antennomeres ( Fig. 1 ); antennae as long as 3.7 times the width of head shield, usually extending back to the posterior part of T 4; basal antennomere as long as wide, the second moderately long, the third markedly longer than wide; succeeding antennomeres gradually shorter and thinner, terminal antennomere 2.6 times as long as wide; abundant setae on the antennal surface, but fewer setae on both ventral and outer sides of the basal articles, gradually increasing in density of setae to about the fifth antennomere, then more or less constant.

Head shield smooth, transverse suture clear, pigment concentrated as close netlike veins, tiny setae scattered very sparsely over the surface; frontal marginal ridge with shallow anterior median furrow, short to moderately long setae scattered sparsely along the frontal marginal ridge of the head-shield; posterior margin of the head shield slightly concave.

22+23 ocelli ( Fig. 2 ), oval, comparatively small, arranged in 4 irregular rows; terminal ocellus comparatively larger, the other ocelli about equal in size, overhanging the anterior lateral margin of the head; ocelli gently bulging, domed, translucent, usually darkly pigmented basally, ocellar field slightly dark.

Tömösváry’s organ ( Fig. 2 -To) moderately small, ovate, slightly smaller than the adjoining ocelli, lying on the ventral margin of the head immediately proventral to the ocelli.

Maxillipede coxosternite ( Fig. 3 ) trapezoidal, medial part of the dental margin moderately arched, outboard as long as inboard, median notch moderately deep and shallow, U-shaped; dental margin without shoul- der, with 8+9 approximately triangular teeth, the most lateral moderately sharp ( Fig. 4 ); porodonts slender and long, between the outer fourth and fifth teeth ( Fig. 4 ); some scattered setae on ventral side of coxosternum, comparatively long and thick setae near the dental margin.

Posterior margin of all tergites slightly hunched, posterolaterally narrower than anterolaterally, generally trapeziform; except for head shield and TT 1, 14 and 15, all tergites weakly wrinkled, tiny setae scattered very sparsely over the surface; lateral marginal ridge of all tergites continuous, short to long setae scattered sparsely along the lateral borders, thicker on the anterior and posterior angles. T 1 narrower than the head shield, slightly wider than T 3 and the head shield, T 10 the widest. Posterior margin of T 1 slightly concave, posterior margin of TT 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 and 14 concave; posterior angles of T 2 moderately rounded, posterior angles of T 4 slightly projecting, TT 6 and 7 with moderately sharp projections, TT 9, 11 and 13 with markedly sharply projections ( Fig. 1 ), posteromedially straight.

All sternites generally trapeziform, moderately smooth, long setae scattered sparsely over the surface; two pair of longer bristles approximately symmetrical on the surface of the anterior part of each sternite; relatively longer bristles on both lateral borders, anterior and posterior angles thicker.

Legs strong; pretarsus of all legs with claws, moderately long, curved ventrad; anterior and posterior accessory claws on legs 1–14, anterior accessory claws moderately slender and feeble, forming relatively small angles with tarsal claws, posterior accessory claws moderately thicker and longer than the anterior one, forming relatively large angles with tarsal claws; no accessory claws on legs 15; distitarsus 5.5 times longer than wide, distitarsus about 60% of the whole length of tarsus on leg 15. Leg spinulation as in Table 1 .

Setae scattered sparsely on the surface of all legs, fewer setae on both the dorsal and the ventral side; a few slightly to indistinctly thickened setae encircling the distal margin of coxa and prefemur; many moderately long setae arranged regularly on tarsus, one row of thicker, long setae regularly arranged on the medial ventral side of basitarsus, two rows of thicker, long setae arranged on the medial ventral side of distitarsus, a shallow channel between two rows of setae; few moderatly longer setae on tarsus of legs 14 and 15, no setae arranged in rows.

Coxal pores usually round, a few ovate, small to moderately large, 7–14 irregularly arranged coxal pores. Coxal pore field set in a moderately deep groove, separated from the anteroventral face of the coxa by an elliptical surface, usually with a few long setae along the fringe of the groove.

ventral dorsal Letters in brackets indicate variable spines.

Male 15th sternite posteromedially straight, posterior angles rounded, nearly trapezoid, fringed with few short setae along the posterior margin; few long, slender setae scattered sparsely on the both anterior and posterior angles; sternite of genital segment moderately small, usually well sclerotised; posterior margin moderately deeply concave between the condyles of the gonopods, no bulge medially; setae fairly evenly scattered on the ventral surface of the genital segment; orderly fringe of long setae along the posterior margin; gonopods short and small, only as small hemispheric protuberance, with 1 long seta ( Fig. 5 ), tip slightly sclerotised.

Material examined. 1ɗ, Campus of Dali College, Yunnan Province, 51°48'N 123°36'E, 6 June 2005, leg. Zi-zhong Yang.

Distribution: China (Yunnan), Japan.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. Bothropolys curvatus Takakuwa, 1939, 1, male, dorsal view, scale 1 mm; 2, ocelli and Tömösváry’s organ (2 - To), right lateral view, scale 250 mm; 3, maxilliped coxosternum, ventral view, scale 500 mm; 4, dental margin of maxilliped coxosternum, ventral view, scale 250 mm; 5, male, posterior segments and gonopods, ventral view, scale 500 mm.

Tables

TABLE 1. Spinulation of B. curvatus.

	C	Tr	P F	t	C	Tr	P	F	t
1			(m)p amp	a(m)			amp	ap	a
2–3			mp amp	am			amp	ap	a
4–10			(a)mp amp	am			amp	ap	ap
11			amp amp	am	a		amp	ap	ap
12		m	amp amp	am	a		amp	ap	ap
13		m	amp amp	am	a		amp	p	p
14	a	m	amp am	a	a		amp	p	p
15	am	m	amp am	a	a		amp	p