Scoterpes blountensis, Shear, 2010

Shear, William A., 2010, 2385, Zootaxa 2385, pp. 1-62 : 51

Scoterpes blountensis , n. sp.

Fig. 76

Types: Male holotype and male and female paratypes ( VMNH) from Gregory’s Cave, Cade’s Cove , Great Smoky Mountains National Park , Blount Co., Tennessee, collected 2 November 1998 by W. Reeves .

Diagnosis: Scoterpes blountensis cannot be confused with any other Scoterpes species because of its unique gonopods and its isolated distribution, more than 100 miles to the east of the nearest record of S. ventus , with no reliable Scoterpes records known from the intervening region.

Etymology: This species appears to be limited to Blount Co., Tennessee, adjacent to and within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP).

Male from Gregory’s Cave: Length, 12.0 mm, width 1.0 mm. Nonsexual characters typical of genus. Gonopods ( Figs.76) small relative to size of animal, coxae loosely fused to sternum; lateral setal group linear, 9–11 setae; mesal group of 3 setae; mesal angiocoxites small, thin, acute, bases close together, forming a Ushaped figure; lateral angiocoxites unbranched, with posterior irregular lamellate extensions, not folded; colpocoxites large, subglobular, fimbriate branch strongly dendritic. Legpair 9 typical, but in many specimens with 1 or 2 vestigial distal articles, obvious coxal gland.

Female from Gregory’s Cave: Length, 12.5 mm, width 1.0 mm. Nonsexual characters as in male.

Distribution: All records supported by males. TENNESSEE: Blount Co. Bull Cave, Cade’s Cove, GSMNP, 2 August 2000, W. Reeves, M. Hedin (VMNH); Calf Cave #1, Rich Mountain, GSMNP, 15 September 1999, W. Reeves (VMNH); Gregory’s Cave, GSMNP, 5, 23 August 1965, S. B. Peck (FSCA), 2 April 1958, A. Stupka, V. Gilbert (FSCA), 13 June 2000, J. Mays (VMNH); Rich Cave near Townsend, GSMNP, 10 April 1958, S. B. Peck (FSCA), White Oak Blowhole Cave, 12 August 1999, W. Reeves (VMNH), Tuckaleechee Caverns, Townsend, 18 April 1959, 25 August 1960, T. C. Barr (FSCA).

Notes: While distantly related to the Copei Group, this species’ occurrence so far from the nearest other species of the group is difficult to explain. How did Scoterpes blountensis come to be so distant from all other Scoterpes species ? The Cade’s Cove region is one of a few small karst windows in the western flanks of the Unaka Mountains, which includes the deep, broad valleys of Cade’s Cove itself, White Oak Sink, and Tuckaleechee Cove. The limestone is exposed along the Unaka thrust fault. Other caves occur in the flanks of Rich Mountain just to the west of Tuckaleechee Cove in the same exposures of limestone ( Barr 1961). Another small karst window, evidently not explored biologically as yet, is located near Cosby, a few miles northeast, in Sevier Co. Northwestern Blount Co. and the adjoining regions of Sevier and Monroe Cos., as well as the GSMNP to the south have no karst, and though karst does occur in these counties as they extend into the Ridge and Valley province to the west, no Scoterpes millipeds have been collected there, only species of the distantly related Pseudotremia (Cleidogonidae) .