Trachycormocephalus Kraepelin, 1903

Lewis, John G. E., Minelli, Alessandro & Shelley, Rowland M., 2006, Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on scolopendrid centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae), Zootaxa 1155 (1), pp. 35-40 : 36

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.1155.1.3

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C086352E-67F4-49F6-AA7F-22A5AC429381

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03847F6D-F811-FF97-FE96-FE7BFD6EFD6C

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Trachycormocephalus Kraepelin, 1903
status

 

Trachycormocephalus Kraepelin, 1903

Lewis (1986) demonstrated that Trachycormocephalus mirabilis Kraepelin, 1903 could not be distinguished generically from typical species of Scolopendra Linnaeus, 1758 and as it is the type species of Trachycormocephalus Kraepelin, 1903 , the latter generic name became a junior subjective synonym of the former. He suggested that other species of Trachycormocephalus were also referable to Scolopendra and most species of the former have subsequently been transferred.

Trachycormocephalus occidentalis Attems, 1909 (Type series: Namibia, Gross­ Namaland, Keetmanshoop, Kubub) was formally transferred to Scolopendra View in CoL by Khanna & Yadav (1997), where it became a junior secondary homonym of S. occidentalis L., 1758 (now in the Geophilomorpha) and of S. occidentalis Meinert, 1886 . Consequently, T. occidentalis Attems, 1909 must be replaced by the oldest available synonym, Arthrorhabdus luteus Attems, 1928 , whose type locality Dinapore, given without further specification, is probably Dinapur, Bihar State, India. It seems unlikely that this species occurs in both Namibia and India but Attems’s (1909, 1928) descriptions differ in only a few minor details and he later (Attems, 1930) synonymised A. luteus with T. occidentalis . However, the name must be changed to S. lutea ( Attems, 1928) View in CoL comb. nov., pending reassessment of the synonymy.

Regarding Trachycormocephalus intermedius Attems, 1928 (Type locality: Zimbabwe, Harare (formerly Salisbury)), its transferral to Scolopendra View in CoL will result in homonymy with S. intermedia Porat, 1871 View in CoL , so it must therefore be renamed. We propose Scolopendra attemsi View in CoL nomen novum.

The remaining five species of Trachycormocephalus are herewith formally transferred to Scolopendra View in CoL :

Trachycormocephalus arenicolus Lawrence, 1975 (Type locality: Namibia, Kaokoveld , Kaoko Otavi) = Scolopendra arenicola (Lawrence, 1875) comb. nov.

Trachycormocephalus koreanus Verhoeff, 1934 (Type locality: Korea) = Scolopendra koreana (Verhoeff, 1934) comb. nov.

Trachycormocephalus langi Chamberlin, 1927 (Type locality: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niangara ) = Scolopendra langi (Chamberlin, 1927) comb. nov.

Trachycormocephalus monticolus Lawrence, 1975 (Type locality: Namibia, Spitzkoppe ) = Scolopendra monticola (Lawrence, 1975) comb. nov.

Trachycormocephalus zuluanus Lawrence, 1958 (Type locality: South Africa, KwaZulu­ Natal , Gwaliweni Forest near Ingwavuma) = Scolopendra zuluana (Lawrence, 1958) comb. nov.

Zalesskaya and Schileyko (1992) wrote “Recently, Trachycormocephalus has been synonymised under Scolopendra (see Lewis, 1986), but the presence in the former of such distinguishing characters as the hind border of the head capsule sunk into a transverse groove in the first tergite combined with paramedian and basal sutures on the head capsule as opposed to a head capsule with the hind border overlying the anterior edge of the first tergite or overlain by it has led us, however, to the conclusion that Trachycormocephalus deserves the rank of a subgenus of Scolopendra . ” However, the head capsule may be overlain by T1 or just touch it in some species formally assigned to Trachycormocephalus and cephalic paramedian sutures and basal plates are absent in some of these species and present in some Scolopendra species e.g. S. alternans Leach, 1813 . We therefore conclude that subgenera are not presently warranted for Scolopendra , although they may prove to be necessary after a generic revision.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Chilopoda

Order

Scolopendromorpha

Family

Scolopendridae

Loc

Trachycormocephalus Kraepelin, 1903

Lewis, John G. E., Minelli, Alessandro & Shelley, Rowland M. 2006
2006
Loc

S. lutea ( Attems, 1928 )

Lewis & Minelli & Shelley 2006
2006
Loc

Scolopendra attemsi

Lewis, Minelli & Shelley 2006
2006
Loc

Arthrorhabdus luteus

Attems 1928
1928
Loc

A. luteus

Attems 1928
1928
Loc

Trachycormocephalus intermedius

Attems 1928
1928
Loc

Trachycormocephalus occidentalis

Attems 1909
1909
Loc

S. occidentalis

Attems 1909
1909
Loc

T. occidentalis

Attems 1909
1909
Loc

T. occidentalis

Attems 1909
1909
Loc

Trachycormocephalus

Kraepelin 1903
1903
Loc

S. occidentalis

Meinert 1886
1886
Loc

S. intermedia

Porat 1871
1871
Loc

Scolopendra

Linnaeus 1758
1758
Loc

Scolopendra

Linnaeus 1758
1758
Loc

Scolopendra

Linnaeus 1758
1758
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