Sphaerotherium elongatum Brandt, 1833

Spiegel, Didier Van den, Golovatch, Sergei I. & Hamer, and Michelle L., 2002, Revision of some of the oldest species in the millipede genus Sphaerotherium Brandt, 1833 (Diplopoda, Sphaerotheriida, Sphaerotheriidae), with new synonymies, African Invertebrates 43, pp. 143-181 : 156-158

Sphaerotherium elongatum Brandt, 1833

( Figs 27a–g , 36 )

Sphaerotherium microstictum Brandt, 1841 . Syn. n.

Material studied:

Type material: S. elongatum : 1^ paralectotype; loc.?; ZMB 59 ; M lectotype (designated herewith), 2^ paralectotypes, South Africa, Promontorium Bonae Spei (Cape), Krebs leg.; ZMB 60 ; 1^ paralectotype, South Africa, Caput Bonae Spei ; ZISP .

S. microstictum : M (lectotype, designated herewith), 4^, 2 juv. paralectotypes, South Africa, Caput Bonae Spei (Cape) ; ZISP.

Other material: 5Ò3^, South Africa, Port Elizabeth; NHML.

Description:

Total length ranging from 14–33, width from 7–18.

Colour: Head, antennae and collum orange brown.Thoracic shield, tergites and pygidium from orange brown to olive green bordered with brown along posterior margin. Underside and legs dark orange brown.

Head with e few piliferous punctures growing denser towards clypeus; gnathochilarium densely pilose. Both sides of labrum broadly rounded laterad, with a single median tooth. Ocelli black. Antennomere 8 with 4–5 apical sensory cones.

Collum generally smooth, with one row of setae along anterior margin.

Thoracic shield with brim relatively narrow, accompanied by a row of long setae.

Tergites devoid of a median keel, surface covered with very dense, minute, piliferous punctures. Endotergum with pinnate marginal bristles arranged in several (up to 5) rows and extending up to margin, marginal ridge with neither row of callosities nor a cuticular pattern, intersegmental membrane with cones and a few long setae ( Figs 27d , 36 ).

Pygidium: Surface without any peculiarities, margin slightly elevated.

Legs without coxal lobe ( Fig. 27c ).

Male sexual characters:

Second pair of legs without coxal lobe.

Anterior telopods with femur distinctly shorter than wide.Tibia with a strong, immovable, conical process. Tarsus 1-segmented, distal outer surface beset with a series of sclerotised ridges, apical side of segment with two tactile spines ( Fig. 27g ). Posterior telopods with long coxal horns surpassing bristly lobes, large at base and narrowing towards extremity, but with a broadened tip. Femur large, outer surface broadly rounded. Lateral side of tibial process with two finger-shaped protuberances.

Tarsus 2-segmented, a row of striated knobs on anterior side of first segment. Concavity with one digitiform lobe on first segment, some tactile spines on second segment ( Fig. 27f ).

Female sexual characters:

Cyphopod large, operculum rod-shaped with a rounded tip. A few setae mainly in apical and medial parts of vulvae ( Fig. 27e ).

Comments: S. microstictum is considered here as a junior subjective synonym of S. elongatum . This taxonomic decision is based on the structure of the marginal bristles, which are pinnate and arranged in several rows, a diagnostic character restricted to S. elongatum .According to our observations, S. granulatum , which is from the same locality as S. elongatum , may also be a junior synonym of this species. At present, however, both are kept separate based on the structure of the male pygidium, which is smooth in elongatum , but seems to be granulated in granulatum . This difference is perhaps infraspecific variation, but since the type of Sphaerotherium granulatum Pocock, 1895 has not been revised, no formal taxonomic decision can be made.

The single male in each of the type series has been selected as lectotype, the other syntypes as paralectotypes.

Figures

Figs 27a–g. Sphaerotherium elongatum (a–e, ^ paralectotype and f–g, Ò lectotype). a: lateral aspect; b: apical part of antenna; c: leg 9; d: endotergum; e: cyphopod; f: anterior view of posterior telopods; g: posterior aspect of anterior telopod.

Figs 34–42. Endotergum (SEM) in Sphaerotherium species. 34. S. compressum (^paralectotype). 35. S. dorsale (^ holotype). 36. S. elongatum (^ paralectotype). 37. S. giganteum (^ lectotype). 38. S. intermedium (^ holotype). 39. S. lichtensteinii (^ paralectotype). 40. S. obtusum (^ holotype). 41. S. punctatum (^ lectotype). 42. S. punctulatum (Ò lectotype).