Hemisphaeroparia avis, Golovatch, Sergei I., Fiemapong, Armand Richard Nzoko & VandenSpiegel, Didier, 2019

Golovatch, Sergei I., Fiemapong, Armand Richard Nzoko & VandenSpiegel, Didier, 2019, Trichopolydesmidae from Cameroon, 2: A species-level reclassification of Afrotropical trichopolydesmids (Diplopoda, Polydesmida), with two new species and two new records from Cameroon, and two new species from the Nimba Mountains, Guinea, ZooKeys 891, pp. 31-59 : 31

publication ID

https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.891.46986

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:4B0C5A33-87F4-4B20-B837-6723C0BEA8B2

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/B4ECECAC-750E-5CA8-8CD2-75E63C58BCF0

treatment provided by

ZooKeys by Pensoft

scientific name

Hemisphaeroparia avis
status

sp. nov.

Hemisphaeroparia avis sp. nov. Figs 1F View Figure 1 , 12 View Figure 12 , 13 View Figure 13

Type material.

Holotype ♂ (MRAC 22853), Cameroon, Center Region, Mafou and Afamba Division, Mfou, cocoa plantation, 3°48 ’49.6” N, 11°40 ’49.6” E, 24.VII.2019, A.R. Nzoko Fiemapong leg. Paratypes: 3 ♂, 12 ♀, 2 subadult ♀ (many fragmented) (MRAC 22854), 12 ♂ (MRAC 22855), 1 ♂ (SEM, MRAC 22856), 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (ZMUM Rd 4630), 1 ♂ (UY1), same locality, together with holotype.

Diagnosis. Differs from all other species of the genus by the presence of a boletiform epicranial tubercle (♂) ( Fig. 12D, K View Figure 12 ), coupled with the unusually large, disc-shaped spiracles next to coxae 1 or 2 ( Fig. 12G, L View Figure 12 ), the strong, setose, subtriangular, distoventral process on ♂ prefemur ( Fig. 12J View Figure 12 ), the densely setose sterna between ♂ coxae 2 and 3 ( Fig. 12M View Figure 12 ), and the sole prominent, clearly exposed process (ab) with a bird’s beak-shaped tip on the gonopodal telopodite ( Fig. 13 View Figure 13 ).

Name. From Latin avis (= bird), to emphasize the bird’s beak-shaped tip of the sole process (ab) of the gonopodal telopodite; noun in apposition.

Description. Length of holotype ca 4.5 mm, width of midbody pro- and metazonae 0.45 and 0.6 mm (♂), respectively. Length of paratypes 4.0-5.5 mm, width of midbody pro- and metazonae 0.45-0.5 and 0.6-0.7 (♂) or 0.6-0.8 mm (♀), respectively. Coloration in alcohol mostly uniformly reddish, apparently in part due to a thin earth crust coating most of the body ( Fig. 1F View Figure 1 ); more rarely nearly pallid.

Body with 20 segments in both sexes. Tegument very delicately micro-alveolate, slightly shining to dull. Head very densely micropilose, with a very distinct, mushroom-like, frontal tubercle (♂) ( Fig. 12D, K View Figure 12 ). Interantennal isthmus ca 1.3-1.4 times diameter of antennal socket. Antennae long and strongly clavate, reaching back up to segment 3 when stretched dorsally (♂, ♀). In length, antennomere 3 = 6> 5> 2 = 4> 7> 1; antennomere 6 the largest, antennomeres 5 and 6 each with a distinct, round, distodorsal field of minute sensilla. In width, collum <head <segments 2-4 <5-16; thereafter body gradually tapering towards telson. Collum ellipsoid, transversely oval, like all following metaterga with three transverse, regular rows of setae. Tergal setae relatively long, each mostly ca 1/3-1.4 as long as metatergum, a little longer on collum and gradually reduced in size towards telson, bacilliform and longitudinally ribbed ( Fig. 12 A–F, N View Figure 12 ), always 3+3 in each row on postcollum metaterga. Dorsum invariably regularly convex. Paraterga medium-sized, set at around upper 1/3 of metazonae ( Fig. 12 A–C View Figure 12 ), visible starting with collum, often slightly upturned caudally, faintly, but regularly rounded and bordered, lateral incisions absent; but 2-3 setae or their insertion points present at lateral margin. Caudal corner of paraterga mostly rounded, drawn increasingly back, but faintly reaching past rear tergal margin only on segments 18 and 19 ( Fig. 12C, F View Figure 12 ). Pore formula normal: 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15-18. Ozopores small, round, opening flush dorsally near caudal corner of poriferous paraterga. Stricture between pro- and metazonae wide, shallow. Limbus very finely microspiculate. Spiracles next to coxae 1 or 2 unusually prominent, discoid and microporose ( Fig. 12G, L View Figure 12 ); following ones small, inconspicuous, as usual. Pleurosternal carinae traceable as very faint ridges or lines on most segments ( Fig. 12 A–C View Figure 12 ). Epiproct short, conical, flattened dorsoventrally. Hypoproct semi-circular, setae strongly separated and borne on minute knobs.

Sterna wide, mostly unmodified and sparsely setose, unusually densely setose only between ♂ coxae 2 and 3 ( Fig. 12M View Figure 12 ); each ♂ prefemur 1 with a prominent, densely setose, subtriangular, blunt, distoventral process ( Fig. 12J View Figure 12 ) (much like in H. falcata ); some setae on ♂ legs slightly modified, with flattened or branching tips. Legs rather long and slender, ca 1.2-1.3 (♂) or 1.0 -1.1 (♀) times as long as midbody height; in length, tarsus> femur> coxa = prefemur = postfemur = tibia, the latter with a particularly long, tactile seta apicodorsally. Tarsal brushes absent.

Gonopods ( Fig. 13 View Figure 13 ) with large, subglobose, clearly exposed, alveolate coxae, these rather densely setose nearly throughout, fused medially at base, each carrying two very long setae near place of fusion. Telopodite bases clearly concealed inside a large gonocoel, each very densely setose along funnel-shaped mesal part, with only one strong, slightly curved, very distinctly exposed, ribbon-shaped, apically bird’s beak-shaped branch (ab). Solenomere (sl) a short unciform branch located at and hidden by base of ab.

Remarks.

Mfou, the type locality of Hemisphaeroparia avis sp. nov., is shared with as many as further two congeners, H. spiniger and H. falcata .