Alluviobolus tsimelahy Wesener &amp; Enghoff &amp; Sierwald 2009, sp. n.
Creators: name: Wesener, Thomas
name: Enghoff, Henrik
name: Sierwald, Petra
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Spirobolida
Pachybolidae
Alluviobolus

description: <i>Alluviobolus tsimelahy</i> Wesener, sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: EA739EC9-0459-4440-891A-6D703BDE2FCC <b>Material examined:</b> 14 &amp;male;, 21 &amp;female;, 47 imm. <i>Holotype:</i> 1 &amp;male; (42 mm long), FMMC W017 D, Madagascar, Province Toliara, RNI Andohahela, parcel II, Tsimelahy, gallery forest, in alluvial debris, 24°57.296’ S, 46°37.214’ E, leg. T. Wesener et al., 24.V.2007. <i>Paratypes:</i> 4 &amp;male;, 6 &amp;female;, 6 imm., FMMC W017 D, same data as holotype; 1 &amp;male;, 1 &amp;female;, 2 imm., CAS W017 D, same data as holotype; 1 &amp;male;, 1 &amp;female;, ZMUC W017 D; 1 &amp;male;, 1 &amp;female;, ZMH W017 D, same data as holotype. <b>Other material examined:</b> 4 &amp;male;, 4 &amp;female;, 10 imm., W017D, same data as type material, but stored as vouchers at University Antananarivo; 1 &amp;male;, 4 &amp;female;, 9 imm., FMMC W016 A, Andohahela mountain chain, Ebosika, rainforest, 24°56’45.24” S, 46°40’31.84” E, leg. T. Wesener et al., 15.VI.2007; 1 &amp;male;, 4 &amp;female;, 9 imm., W016A, same data as previous, University Antananarivo. <b>Differential diagnosis:</b> see <i>A. laticlavius</i> for a differentiation of both taxa. It is possible that <i>Ostinobolus rufus</i> sp. n. can also be found in the Ebosika rainforest. Both species live in the same habitat and are of similar size and colour. <i>O. rufus</i> is, however, entirely red (Fig. 48C) while the mesozonites are dark olive greenish in <i>Alluviobolus tsimelahy</i> (Fig. 42A). <b>Description.</b> <i>Measurements</i>: males with 47–49 body rings, circa 41–44 mm long, 3.6–4.3 mm wide. Females with 47–49 body rings, 52–60 mm long, 5.5–6.0 mm wide. <i>Coloration</i> on mesozonites dark olive green, metazonites red (Fig. 42A). Rings dorsally with a slender orange stripe. Head, legs, antennae and telson red (Figs 45 A–C). <i>Eyes</i> with 22–24 ocelli arranged in 4 or 5 rows (Fig. 45A). <i>Antennae</i> protruding back to ring 5 (Fig. 45A). <i>Male coxal processes</i> on coxae 3–5 (Fig. 45B), 3 and 4 large, swollen, process on coxa 5 smaller (Fig. 46B). <i>Preanal process</i> absent (Figs 45C, 46C). <i>Anterior gonopod</i> sternite elevated into a wide lobe, apically tapering. Tip wellrounded (Fig. 45F). Coxite and telopodite inconspicuous (Fig. 45H). <i>Posterior gonopods</i>: telopodite with a membranous fringe (Fig. 45I). Apical sclerite (<i>x</i> in Fig. 45I) slender, triangular, regularly protruding into a slender, acute tip (Fig. 45G). <b>Intraspecific variation:</b> specimens from the rainforest of Ebosika show minute differences in the posterior gonopods towards those of the type series (compare Figs 45G, I with Figs 46J, L, M). Ebosika specimens possess apically on the telopodite a short protruding process towards the membranous fringe (Fig. 46L, marked with an arrow). However, size, number of body rings, colour pattern and the shape of male coxal processes (Figs 46 A–C) are identical in specimens from both populations. <b>Distribution and ecology</b> : <i>A. tsimelahy</i> is until now the only known Malagasy species of Spirobolida which occurs in the spiny forest and rainforest ecosystem, more precisely in the spiny forest at Tsimelahy and just 5 km east in the rainforest of Ebosika. The record from the spiny forest of Tsimelahy, however, is tainted, because the only place where <i>Alluviobolus</i> specimens were found was very close to the river, inside wet debris. It is currently unknown if the <i>A. tsimelahy</i> specimens from the spiny forest area represent a stable population or whether specimens just floated out of the rainforest and into the spiny forest during the wet season. It is perhaps not a coincident that the specimens from Ebosika were collected close to the same river as those in Tsimelahy (Fig. 43). <b>Etymology:</b> <i>tsimelahy</i>, noun in apposition, after the type locality.
description: Published as part of <i>Wesener, Thomas, Enghoff, Henrik &amp; Sierwald, Petra, 2009, Review of the Spirobolida on Madagascar, with descriptions of twelve new genera, including three genera of ' fire millipedes' (Diplopoda), pp. 1-128 in ZooKeys 19 (19)</i> on pages 83-85, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.19.221, http://zenodo.org/record/576503