Araneopedis bogong, Mesibov, 2025

Mesibov, Robert, 2025, Dalodesmid millipedes from alpine and subalpine habitats in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Dalodesmidae), ZooKeys 1262, pp. 303-333 : 303-333

Araneopedis bogong sp. nov.

Figs 3 , 15 A

Type material.

Holotype. Male, Bogong High Plains (Vic), 0.37 km E by N of junction of Bogong High Plains Road and Big River Firetrail, site HS 03-C-L 2 , -36.8725, 147.3218 ± 25 m, 1645–1665 m, coll. Nicholas Porch, 2024-04 - 22, 1 m 2 litter sample from closed shrubby snow gum woodland, NMV K 16482 . Paratypes. 3 F, details as for holotype, NMV K 16481 ; 1 M in 95 % EtOH, same details but 0.2 km E by N of junction of Bogong High Plains Road and Big River Firetrail, site HS 03-C-L 1 , -36.8730, 147.3199 ± 25 m, 1620–1640 m, NMV K 16480 ; 1 M, 8 F, same details, NMV K 16483 ; 1 M, same details but Dinner Plain area, 0.51 km SSW of JB Plain carpark, site HS 07-C-L 3 , -37.0264, 147.2187 ± 25 m, 1650 m, 2024-04 - 14, closed grassy / shrubby snow gum woodland, NMV K 16484 .

Additional material.

None.

Diagnosis.

Adult males distinguished from Araneopedis buffalo sp. nov. by the similar sizes of posterior rings vs enlarged rings; and from other species of Araneopedis gen. nov. by the solenomere flattened and with a wide distal-facing concavity.

Description.

As for the genus, with the following details. Male / female length ca 9.0 / 9.0 mm, maximum midbody width 0.8 / 0.8 mm, midbody metatergite width ca 1.4 × prozonite width.

Telopodite base with upturned basal margin (Fig. 3 A ), sparsely setose. Division of telopodite into lateral and medial branches and solenomere at ca 1 / 2 telopodite height; telopodite bulging posteriorly below division. Lateral branch (Fig. 3 B ) a little taller than medial branch, narrow, flattened mediolaterally, bowed medially, tip curving posteriorly and pointed, lateral margin with triangular extension at ca 3 / 4 branch height. Medial branch widening from base and broadly truncate, concave posteriorly. Solenomere mediolaterally flattened, extending distally, then curving anterodistally, creating wide distal-facing concavity in profile, then tapering and curving posteriorly and terminating in posteriorly directed point with the opening of the prostatic groove.

Name.

Noun in apposition, for the Bogong High Plains, from which most of the known specimens were collected.

Distribution.

Collected from two locality clusters near Dinner Plain and east of Falls Creek in the Victorian mountains (Fig. 15 A ), a linear range of ca 19 km, in subalpine woodland from 1620 to 1665 m. Possibly parapatric with A. porchi sp. nov.

Figures

Figure 3. Araneopedis bogong sp. nov., paratype males ex site HS 07 - C-L 3, NMV K 16484 (A) and site HS 03 - C-L 1, NMV K 16483 (B, C). A. Posterior view of gonopods in situ; B, C. Medial and anteromedial views of cleared right gonopod telopodite; focus-stacked images. Abbreviations: l = lateral branch, m = medial branch, s = solenomere.

Figure 15. A. Localities for Araneopedis bogong sp. nov. (filled diamonds), A. buffalo sp. nov. (filled circles), A. dargo sp. nov. (open circle), A. gibbae sp. nov. (filled square), A. porchi sp. nov. (open diamonds) and Lissodesmus milledgei Mesibov, 2006: previously recorded (crosses) and new from this study (star); B. Localities for Polydactylogonus sanctogwinear sp. nov. (cross) Cernethia dysmica sp. nov. (diamonds) and C. inopinata Mesibov, 2015: previously recorded (open circles) and new from this study (filled circles).