Rhysida stuhlmanni subsp. stuhlmanni stuhlmanni Kraepelin 1903
Creators: name: Simaiakis, Stylianos Michail
name: Edgecombe, Gregory D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Chilopoda
Scolopendromorpha
Scolopendridae
Rhysida
Rhysida stuhlmanni
Rhysida stuhlmanni stuhlmanni kraepelin, 1903

description: 15. Rhysida stuhlmanni stuhlmanni Kraepelin, 1903   
(Figs 27–29)  
 Material examined. Malawi: Zomba, Nyasaland, Aug. to Nov. 1892, leg. H.H. Johnson, 1 ex., BMNH 94.1.15.39; Malawi: Lake Nyassa, Likoma Isl., London School of Tropical Medicine, Pres’d by Prof. P.A. Buxter, leg. R. Howard, 1 ex., BMNH 1950.4.19.28–29. (Fig. 22).   
 Type locality. Tanzania (Bagamoyo, Rio Quaqua, ‘ Zambesi’) (Minelli et al. 2006).   
 General distribution. East Tropical Africa: Tanzania (TZ); South Tropical Africa: Malawi (MW), South Africa (ZA), Zimbabwe (ZW) (Lawrence 1955; Minelli et al. 2006); Asia Tropical: India (IN) (Khanna 1994).   
 Remarks. The smaller specimen from Zomba (22 mm) has 17 antennal articles, of which three are glabrous dorsally (Fig. 27) and 5+5 forcipular teeth (Fig. 28); the larger specimen from Likoma Island (58 mm) has 18 antennal articles, 2.66 of which are glabrous dorsally. Both specimens from Malawi have the diagnostic short paramedian sutures on the tergites (confined to the posterior part of TT4–20), only the tergite of the ultimate legbearing segment being marginate, the strongly embayed posterior margin and approximately quadratic shape of the sternite of the ultimate leg-bearing segment (Fig. 29, cf. Kraepelin 1903: fig. 97), and three spines (two apical, one subapical, no lateral or spine spine) on the coxopleural process (Fig. 29), though these characters are also shared by R. intermedia Attems, 1910, from Pemba Island, Zanzibar. 17 antennal articles in R. stuhlmanni stuhlmanni corresponds to the description of R. intermedia but previous descriptions have not indicated the number of glabrous antennal articles in R. s. stuhlmanni, so it is not clear whether this might serve as a basis to recognize two species. In the larger specimen, legs 1–19 bear two tarsal spurs (1–18 fide Kraepelin 1903), and legs 1–17 bear a tibial spur (leg 18 is missing, and leg 19 lacks a tibial spur). The smaller specimen has two tarsal spurs to at least leg 17 (the following legs are missing) and a tibial spur to at least leg 13 but lacking on leg 17. The main differences between the Malawi specimens and R. intermedia are the presence of 17–18 antennal articles (versus 19), two tarsal spurs to legs 17+/19 (versus 15) and a gentle curve to the outer margin of the coxopleural pore field, corresponding to “ziemlich geradlinig” (R. stuhlmanni in Attems’ key) rather than “tief eingebuchtet” (R. intermedia).
description: Published as part of Simaiakis, Stylianos Michail & Edgecombe, Gregory D., 2013, Scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) in the Natural History Museum (London): A review of the hitherto unidentified species collected in Africa, with remarks on taxonomy and distribution, and a new species of Otostigmus (Parotostigmus), pp. 169-198 in Zootaxa 3734 (2) on page 183, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3734.2.5