Solaenodolichopus teres ( Verhoeff, 1924 )

Mesibov, Robert, 2014, The millipede genus Solaenodolichopus Verhoeff, 1924 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae). 1. New genus diagnosis and redescriptions of named species, European Journal of Taxonomy 83, pp. 1-36 : 23-25

Solaenodolichopus teres ( Verhoeff, 1924)

Figs 1D , 2D , 3D , 8C–D

Antichiropus (Solänodolichopus) teres Verhoeff, 1924: 12 (as Antichiropus teres ), 20 (as Solänodolichopus teres in key), 21 (as Antichiropus (Solänodolichopus) teres , first description); figs 7–8 in pl. 1.

Aulacoporus teres Attems 1937: 261 (new combination), 263 ( Verhoeff’s 1924 description reworded); fig. 327 (p. 263; same as fig. 7 in Verhoeff 1924).

Solaenodolichopus teres – Verhoeff 1928: 94 (genus misspelled Solanodolichopus ; new combination for teres , vittatus and vittatus dorsalis, referred to by Verhoeff as “the three forms previously described by me”). — Jeekel 2000: 40. — Nguyen & Sierwald 2013: 1159.

Aulacoporus teres – Attems 1937: 261 (new combination), 263 ( Verhoeff’s 1924 description reworded); fig. 327 (p. 263; same as fig. 7 in Verhoeff 1924). — Jeekel 1968: 18, 29; 1971: 233 (designated as type of Solaenodolichopus ); 1981: 49.

Material examined

Lectotype (here designated)

Slide mount with original Verhoeff label containing male legpair 1, right gonopod telopodite, left gonopod telopodite missing prefemur, left gonopod prefemur attached to the distal portion of the gonocoxa, both legs 9 and a cuticle fragment which may be the anterior aperture margin from ring 7, NHRS- KAS1000000005 ; the rest of the male body missing legpair 1, ring 7 and parts of some legs, in alcohol but dried out in the past, somewhat distorted, ZSM A20052188 ; Colosseum, QLD [24°26’ S, 151°35’ E, ± 5 km], E. Mjöberg, Nov.-Dec. 1912 (see taxonomic notes, below). The lectotype is the one male specimen examined by Verhoeff, i.e., the body parts on the slide mount plus the body parts in alcohol.

Paralectotype

Female, details as for lectotype, in alcohol, body broken between rings 8 and 9, NHRS-KAS1000000007.

Other material

None.

Description

As for the genus. Maximum midbody width ca. 3.0/3.5 mm (male lectotype /female paralectotype, but male distorted by drying out in past). Colour in alcohol: “Body gray-yellow, on each side with wide brown longitudinal band dorsally, becoming dark brown anteriorly. Between the brown longitudinal bands a washed-out ochre-yellow dorsal longitudinal band with a brown median stripe. Collum dark brown, medially more or less lighter” ( Verhoeff 1924: 20, my translation); male lectotype largely colourless, female paralectotype dull yellow grading to light reddish-brown posteriorly on each ring with no trace of longitudinal banding.

Male with transverse furrow on metazonites, stopping well above level of ozopore. No longitudinal furrows laterally on diplosegments. Sternal lamella ( Fig. 2D ) rounded-rectangular, with near-vertical sides and more or less straight distal margin slightly raised as small, rounded projection in centre, and with wide, shallow concavity on posterior surface on either side. Aperture details uncertain due to Verhoeff’s dissection, but if slide-mounted cuticle fragment is anterior margin of aperture, then with gently convex extensions to anterior aperture margin on either side of rounded-triangular, medial extension (as shown in Fig. 3B for S. rubriventris ). Scopulae on legs 2-29, i.e., not present on first or last podous rings.

Gonopod telopodite reach on venter uncertain due to dissection, and not stated by Verhoeff (1924). Gonocoxa length relative to telopodite not known; gonocoxa fragment on lectotype slide with sparse, long setae anterodistally. Cannula short, narrow, uniformly tapering towards prefemur. Prefemur small, rounded, densely setose posteromedially, demarcated from femorite laterally by small, narrow notch. Femorite ( Fig. 8C ) ca. 40% of telopodite length, somewhat flattened anteroposteriorly, more or less uniformly wide to ca. 1/2 its length, then bending medially at ca. 45° and expanding, the end more or less truncate. Lateral femorite process represented by small, short, rounded ridge at femorite tip. Medial femorite process short, pointed, “thrust into a groove on the medial side of the base of the solenomerite and is therefore easily overlooked” ( Verhoeff 1924: 21, my translation). Solenomere ( Fig. 8C–D ) at base ca. 1/2 femorite tip width, directed distally and curving laterally at midlength, distally flattened anteroposteriorly, the lateral profile gently convex; anterior surface with thin, ridge-like flange along almost entire length of solenomere, extended anterolaterally as large triangle near base and smaller triangle just below midlength. Solenomere distomedially with U-shaped indentation, the basal rim of the U extending as short, tooth-like projection. Solenomere distal from U curving medially, subdivided by narrow indentation into short, rod-like apical process and anteroposteriorly flattened, truncate, subapical process with opening of prostatic groove in middle of medial margin. Prostatic groove running on anterior surface of telopodite, following curve of solenomere on medial side of anterior surface flange.

Female paralectotype with distolateral process ( Fig. 3D ) on each leg 2 coxa extending ca. 1/2 coxa diameter laterally, with truncate lateral margin about coxa diameter in length; in situ the process resting on ring 3 ventral surface posterior to raised end of epigyne.

Distribution

So far known only from the type locality in central coastal Queensland (map Fig. 12 ).

Taxonomic notes

Verhoeff based his description on one male and one female. He also examined a female 20 mm long, but questioned whether it belonged to the same species ( Verhoeff 1924: 22). The small female is a stadium

7 individual broken between rings 7 and 8 and is in the NHRS vial with the paralectotype. The lectotype slide was labelled ‘lectotype’ by P.M. Johns in 1967, but Johns did not publish this lectotypification.

Verhoeff (1924) did not give a collection date for the S. teres syntypes. Mjöberg’s unpublished field diaries show that he arrived in Colosseum in the last week of November 1912 and left during the first week of December 1912 (Å. Ferrier, in litt., 16 Dec. 2013; see also Ferrier 2006).

The structure of the gonopod telopodite is a little unclear to me due to its flat mounting on a microscope slide, and I have not yet seen any other Solaenodolichopus specimens with gonopods perfectly matching those of S. teres . A male (QM S74768) pitfall-trapped in 1983 at Kroombit Tops, ca. 60 km west of Colosseum, has a similarly short and distally bent femorite and might be conspecific. However, the much-faded colouring of the Kroombit Tops male consists of brown transverse bands at the rear of the metazonites against a pale yellow ground, rather than the longitudinal banding seen by Verhoeff in S. teres . The medial femorite process in the Kroombit Tops male has a teardrop-shaped base as in S. pruvoti (for example); details of the base are unclear in the slide-mounted S. teres gonopods.

General notes

S. teres , S. vittatus Verhoeff, 1924 and S. vittatus dorsalis Verhoeff, 1924 were among specimens collected by the Swedish zoologist Erik Mjöberg (1882-1938) during two expeditions to Australia, 1910–1913 ( Ferrier 2006). Verhoeff obtained the Mjöberg specimens from the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet in Stockholm, described 43 new millipede species and subspecies from the material and published his results in the Swedish journal Arkiv för Zoologi ( Verhoeff 1924). To Verhoeff’s disappointment, the journal reproduced many of his drawings at a scale too small for clarity, among them those of Aulacoporus and Solaenodolichopus spp.: “Die Abbildungen sind leider etwas zu stark verkleinert worden, wodurch die Deutlichkeit mancher zarterer Teile gelitten hat” ( Verhoeff 1924: 142).

Figures

Fig. 1. — A–B. Solaenodolichopus walesius Verhoeff, 1928. A. Lectotype ♂, AM KS.76508, right anterior view. B. ♂ ex AM KS.16152, midbody spiracles, ventral view, anterior to left. — C, E. S. vittatus (Verhoeff, 1924). C. Paralectotype ♀, NHRS KAS1000000007, midbody spiracles, ventral view, anterior to left (image right-left reversed for ease of comparison with 1B). E. ♂ ex QM S74828, anterior leg tip with scopula, tarsus at left. — D. S. teres (Verhoeff, 1924), lectotype ♂ slide mount, NHRS KAS1000000005, legpair 1. — F. S. pruvoti (Brolemann, 1931), ♂ ex QM S74856, epiproct, posterior and slightly ventral view. Scale bars: A = 2.5 mm, B–C = 0.5 mm, D = 1 mm, E = 0.25 mm, F = 0.1 mm.

Fig. 2. Posterior views of sternal lamella in ♂♂. — A. Solaenodolichopus pruvoti (Brolemann, 1931), QM S74856. — B. S. rubriventris Verhoeff, 1928, QM S74690. — C. S. sulcatus (Verhoeff, 1928), lectotype, AM KS.76503. — D. S. teres (Verhoeff, 1924), lectotype in alcohol, ZSM A20052188. — E. S. vittatus (Verhoeff, 1924), QM S74829. — F. S. walesius Verhoeff, 1928, lectotype, AM KS.76508. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

Fig. 3. — A–B. Solaenodolichopus rubriventris Verhoeff, 1928, ♂, QM S74690. A. Right ventrolateral view of ring 7 showing swelling (arrow) just anterolateral to aperture. B. Ventral view of aperture showing gently convex extensions (arrows) on either side of medial extension on anterior margin of aperture. — C. S. walesius Verhoeff, 1928, ♀, AM KS.16152, posteroventral view of epigyne showing raised end (arrow). — D. S. teres (Verhoeff, 1924), paralectotype ♀, NHRS KAS1000000007, left ventrolateral view of anterior rings showing distolateral process on leg 2 coxa (arrow) just medial to raised end of epigyne. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Fig. 8. — A–B, E–I. Solaenodolichopus rubriventris Verhoeff, 1928. Lateral (A) and posterior (B) views of gonopods in situ; left gonopod solenomere in lateral (E), anterior (F), medial (G), medial and slightly posterior (H) and posterior (I) views. A, B, E, F, G, I from QM S74690, H from fig. 24 in Verhoeff (1928). Dotted line in F marks course of prostatic groove. — C–D. S. teres (Verhoeff, 1924), anterior views of right gonopod telopodite of lectotype, from slide mount NHRS KAS1000000005 (C) and from fig. 7 in Verhoeff (1924) (D). Scale bars: A–B = 2 mm, C–I = 1 mm.

Fig. 12. Localities for named Solaenodolichopus species as of February 2014. — A. Australia showing location of map B (rectangle). — B. S. teres (Verhoeff, 1924) (star), S. sulcatus (Verhoeff, 1928) (crosses) and S. walesius Verhoeff, 1928 (open triangles), other species (filled squares); rectangle shows location of map C. — C. S. pruvoti (Brolemann, 1931) (open squares), S. rubriventris Verhoeff, 1928 (crosses) and S. vittatus (Verhoeff, 1924) (open triangles). Maps A–C are geographic projections; approximate north-south map extents are 900 km for B and 220 km for C.