Ommatoiulus khroumiriensis Akkari & Enghoff

Akkari, Nesrine, Cheung, David Koon-Bong, Enghoff, Henrik & Stoev, Pavel, 2013, Revolving SEM images visualising 3 D taxonomic characters: application to six species of the millipede genus Ommatoiulus Latzel, 1884, with description of seven new species and an interactive key to the Tunisian members of the genus (Diplopoda, Julida, Julidae), ZooKeys 328, pp. 5-45 : 15-16

Ommatoiulus khroumiriensis Akkari & Enghoff sp. n. Figs 20-26

Archiulus punicus : Attems (1926): 191, figs 240, 241.

Ommatoiulus punicus : Akkari et al. 2009, in part.

Ommatoiulus cf. punicus: Enghoff et al. 2011: 610.

Material.

Holotype: ♂, NW Tunisia, Jendouba Governorate, Aïn Draham, Col des Ruines, 1.11.2009, N. Akkari leg. (ZMUC). Paratypes: 2 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀, NW Tunisia, Jendouba Governorate, Aïn Draham, Col des Ruines, 1.11.2009, N. Akkari leg. (ZMUC); 2 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀, NW Tunisia, Jendouba Governorate, 7 km south Aïn Draham, les chênes, 22.3.1986, ZMUC expedition; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 4 immatures, 5-18.3.1988, NW Tunisia, Jendouba Governorate, Aïn Draham area, ZMUC expedition; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 1 intercalary male, NW Tunisia, Jendouba Governorate, Aïn Draham, 19.11.2003, forest with Quercus suber and Quercus faginea , under stones, N. Akkari leg. (NMNHS); 2 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀, 2 juveniles, NW Tunisia, Jendouba Governorate, Hammam Bourguiba, 36°45'N, 08°35'E, alt. 158m, mixed forest with Pinus pinaster and Quercus suber , under stones, 31.10.2009, N. Akkari leg. (ZMUC); 3 ♂♂, NW Tunisia, Jendouba Governorate, Aïn Draham, 36°47'N, 8°41'E, alt. 511m, 3.10.2005, N. Akkari leg. (ZMUC); 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, NW Tunisia, Jendouba Governorate, Aïn Draham, 36°47'N, 8°41'E, 760m, Quercus suber - Erica forest, 11.3.2009, N. Akkari & H. Enghoff leg. (ZMUC); 3 ♂♂ Jendouba Governorate, route Aïn Draham- Fernana, 36°43'N, 8°40'E, Quercus suber - Erica forest, 9.3.2009, N. Akkari & H. Enghoff leg. (ZMUC); 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, Jendouba Governorate, route Aïn Draham- Béni M’tir, 36°43'N, 8°42'E, Quercus suber - Erica forest, 10.3.2009, N. Akkari & H. Enghoff leg. (ZMUC).

Diagnosis.

Similar to Ommatoiulus punicus and Ommatoiulus crassinigripes sp. n. but readily distinguished by the shape of promerite having a deeper notch extended basad, much slenderer processes of posterior gonopods, and a more sinuous mesomerite devoid of conspicuous serrations.

Etymology.

The species name refers to the natural region of Khroumirie, NW Tunisia, to which the species seems confined.

Description.

Males: L: 26-27 mm, H: 2-2.8 mm, 43-48 PR+1-2 AR+T, females: L: 30-37 mm, H: 4-4.3, 44-48 PR+1 AR+T. General colour dark grey, alternating with brown-yellow laterally, and with a thin black mid-dorsal line. Head dark reddish-brown; occipital area blackish, with brown-reddish- spots; frontal part uniformly black, labral zone brown-reddish- to yellowish at margin, antennae brownish. Prozonites uniformly grey, with a pale narrow stripe anteriorly; metazonites darker, brown-greyish, densely sputtered with black, colour gradually vanishing on the sides, below ozopore level yellow-brownish; legs light brown. Telson: anal valves black, preanal ring blackish, caudal projection brown-reddish, subanal scale light brown to yellowish.

Prozonites with scattered oblique striae; metazonites densely striated; suture complete, curving at ozopore level; ozopores small, rounded and located on metazonites, situated at about their diameter from the suture. Anal valves with 4-5 setae on the surface, a submarginal row of 12-13 setae and numerous short marginal ones; subanal scale triangular and setose; preanal ring protruding in a caudal projection with ca. 3+3 setae and a small hyaline process on the tip.

Male sexual characters. Mandibular stipites expanded in rounded posterior-ventral lobes, first pair of legs hook-shaped, remaining legs with postfemoral and tibial pads.

Gonopods. Promerite (Fig. 20) strongly narrowed distally with a deep lateral incision (i) extending meso-basad, distal process (ap) broad, subtriangular, with two pointed edges, the tip of apical process with a small pointed lobe (ap2); mesal ridge (M) distally protruding in a blunt small cylindrical process (mp), posterior surface of promerite with a row of strong setae emerging at the level of the notch, in close proximity to the mesal ridge.

Posterior gonopod (Figs 21-26). Mesomerite (Ms) large, longer than the other processes, uniformly broad, sinuous; distal third constricted to less than half breadth and apically protruding into a slender curved process, latter tapering and pointing mesad (Figs 21, 23, 24, 26). Solenomerite (S) broadest at the base, narrowing at mid-length, and bearing a number of strong setae near the posterior margin, distally with a broad, blunt triangular process (pr) separated from the apical part by a rounded notch (n), and with a long curved process (ds) protruding between two apical hyaline processes (hp3, hp4) and housing the apical part of seminal groove (g), the latter (g) running from the fovea (F) located at the base of the solenomerite (S) up to process ds.Paracoxite (Px) emerging from a depressed coxite (Co); Px curved, half as broad as in Ommatoiulus crassinigripes , gradually narrowing distad; lateral and apical margins, with a saw-like strongly jagged margin (Figs 22-26).

Distribution.

Humid bioclimatic zone in northwestern Tunisia; known from Aïn Draham, Fernana and Hammam Bourguiba in Khroumirie, Jendouba Governorate.

Habitat.

Mixed forests dominated by Quercus faginea and Quercus suber , or Pinus pinaster and Quercus suber .