Acanthophorella aurita Antic 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Antić, Dragan
name: Šević, Mirko
name: Barjadze, Shalva
name: Makarov, Slobodan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Chordeumatida
Anthroleucosomatidae
Acanthophorella
Acanthophorella aurita

description: Acanthophorella aurita Antić sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: ADCB7F33-A824-42E3-B7F5-D2EA41BC93DA
Figs 2–5, 21A, 22
Diagnosis
Distinguished from congeners and members of the genus Pseudoflagellophorella by the presence of very characteristic, wide, more or less ear-shaped angiocoxites of the posterior gonopods in anterior or posterior views (vs angiocoxites are more or less slender or small in all other members of the genera Acanthophorella and Pseudoflagellophorella).
Etymology
From Latin ‘ auris ’ (‘ear’) + ‘- ītus ’; ‘ aurita ’ (= ‘earlike’; having ears or having the shape of a ear) because of the characteristic shape of the angiocoxites of the posterior gonopods. Feminine adjective.
Material examined
Holotype GEORGIA • ♂; Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Khobi Municipality, Urta Mts, small cavity near the ruins of Jegeta church (Jegeta 2 Cave); 21 Oct. 2021; J. Grego and M. Szekeres leg.; NHMW MY10363.
Description
SIZE AND NUMBER OF BODY RINGS. Body with 31 rings (including telson), length: 10.5 mm, vertical diameter of the largest ring 1.0 mm.
COLORATION (Fig. 2). With brownish, greyish and yellowish patterns. Ommatidia black.
HEAD (Fig. 2B–C). Setose, frontal side with a slight medial concavity and with a rectangular lobe (Fig. 2C, white arrows), below each antennal socket. Labrum with three medial teeth and 5+4 labral and 2+2 supralabral setae. Promentum triangular, without setae. Lamellae linguales with 4+4 setae. Stipites with ca 20 setae each. Antennae 1.8 mm long. Length of antennomeres (in mm): I (0.08), II (0.2), III (0.53), IV (0.22), V (0.47), VI (0.13), VII (0.14) and VIII (0.03). Length/breadth ratios of antennomeres I–VII: I (1), II (2), III (5), IV (2.2), V (3.6), VI (1) and VII (1.5). Antennomeres II, IV, V, VI and VII with one, three, one, four and one long sensillum trichoideum, respectively. Antennomere 7 with one rather bacilliform sensillum (sensillum basiconicum?) curved distad, located below sensillum trichodeum. Lateral to antennal sockets a group of papilliform outgrowths present. Number of ommatidia: 12+ 13 in 3 or 4 rows, arranged in elongated triangles (Fig. 2B–C).
COLLUM. Narrower than head, with six macrochaetae as all body rings. Anterior edge semi-circular, posterior margin gently concave.
BODY RINGS (Fig. 2A, D–E). With well-developed lateral keels. Macrochaetae long and rather rodlike, with longitudinal ribs, ending with spikes. CIX (ring 15) = 0.5; MIX (ring 15) ~ 1.5; PIX (ring 15) = 0.7; MA (ring15) ~ 100°.
TELSON. Epiproct with a pair of spinnerets and 3+3 setae (1+1 paramedian, 2+2 marginal). Hypoproct with 1+1 distal setae. Paraprocts with 3+3 marginal setae in distal part.
LEG-PAIRS 1 AND 2. With tarsal combs; femora, postfemora and tibiae with long and robust setae.
MALE SEXUAL CHARACTERS (Figs 2A, 3). Gonopores mesally on coxae 2 (Fig. 3A). Leg-pairs 3–7 enlarged, especially leg-pairs 3, 4 and 7 (Fig. 2A). Leg-pairs 3 and 4 very thick, each with a proximal lateral protrusion on prefemora; prefemora and femora strong, rectangular; tarsi shorter and thicker compared to other legs (Fig. 3B). Leg-pair 3 with a distoventral femoral pad (Fig. 3B–C); observed on neither other podomeres nor legs. Leg-pair 4 with a mesal concavity on prefemora and femora. Leg-pair 5 with a proximal, anterior, triangular coxal protrusion. Leg-pair 6 without peculiarities. Leg-pair 7 robust; coxae with well-developed, subrectangular, flattened posterior processes, covered with long setae anteriorly, each with a lateral tooth curved anteriad (Fig. 3D). Leg-pair 10 with coxal glands and with a bilobed protrusion, triangular anteriorly and rounded posteriorly, both lobes covered with tubercules (Fig. 3E, only anterior, triangular part of lobe visible). Leg-pair 11 with coxal glands, no other peculiarities.
ANTERIOR GONOPODS (Figs 4A, C, 5A–C, 21A). Gonopodal sternum (s) wide, medially with a well-developed, subtriangular, fimbriate lamella (sl) on anterior side. Angiocoxites (a) consisting of a medial part (mp), lateral lamellae (ll) and a synangiocoxal base with anterior processes (ap). Medial parts well-developed, divided, but appressed to each other, shield like, tapering distolaterally into hook-shaped processes in anterior and posterior views, curved sharply proximad and posteriad; distally these processes wide, rather spoon-shaped; distomesal margins folded posteriad; additional three processes can be seen posteriorly (best seen in lateral view); angiocoxites posteroproximally with a pair of tufts (tf) with hairlike outgrowths. Lateral lamellae high, curving posterolaterad into two strongly developed layers of fringed extension. Anterior processes (ap) tapering distad, blunt, short, high as half as height of medial angiocoxal part. Coxal vesicle (?) (cv) poorly developed.
POSTERIOR GONOPODS (Figs 4B, D, 5D–E). Gonopodal sternum (s) wide, well-developed. Angiocoxites (a) strongly developed, more or less ear-shaped in anterior and posterior views, with lateral and distal margins curved anteriad; proximally with a short anterior process (ap). Coxal vesicles (cv) poorly developed, visible on mesal sides of angiocoxites at their mid-height. Telopodites (t) reduced to pigment remnants (a claw is visible on the right side).
Remarks
An apparently conspecific specimen was found in the forest, near the Cholaga spring, village Kveda Tlughi, in the Racha region. This locality is about 100 air-km from the type and only locality of A. aurita sp. nov. Unfortunately, the sample from Kveda Tlughi is considered lost in the IZISU collection. From the available pictures of the gonopods alone (Fig. 4C–D) it is evident that both males are very similar, although the shape of the angiocoxites of the posterior gonopods is slightly different. Additional males from both localities, as well as in between, could clarify whether it is only a variation in the shape of the angiocoxites of the posterior gonopods, which seems most likely. The locality Kveda Tlughi is marked with a question mark on the map for A. aurita for the time being.
Near the type locality, in Urta (= Jegeta 1) Cave, we recorded a larger number of juveniles (five collected, IZISU) during the 2022 expedition, but in the absence of an adult male we shall not assign these specimens to A. aurita sp. nov., although it is very likely that they are the same species.
Localities and ecology
The holotype male was collected in a small, slightly descending cavity with a small entrance, and with a hall about 3–3.5 mm long and 1.5–2 m wide. This cavity is characterised by an additional small opening on the ceiling, causing the floor to be covered with moist, black, humic soil with leaf litter and a thin layer of dead leaves. The specimen was found in this substrate (Jozef Grego pers. com.). Another millipede found in the cavity was Pachyiulus krivolutskyi Golovatch, 1977, a common epigean species in the western Caucasus. The cavity is tentatively named Jegeta 2 Cave or Cave 2 near the ruins of Jegeta church. The sample from Kveda Tlughi, which is most likely A. aurita sp. nov., as well, came from sieving leaf litter. In the Urta (= Jegeta 1) cave, juveniles of possibly this species were observed only in and on dead wood in the cave, but very close to the entrance.
This species is an epigean member of the genus Acanthophorella and as juveniles possibly belonging to this species were found in the cave, it may be considered troglophilic.
Distribution
A Georgian endemic known from the Urta Mountains (Khobi Municipality) and possibly from Kveda Tlughi (Ambrolauri Municipality) (Fig. 22, green circles).
description: Published as part of Antić, Dragan, Šević, Mirko, Barjadze, Shalva & Makarov, Slobodan, 2023, Review of the genus Acanthophorella Antić & Makarov, 2016 (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida, Anthroleucosomatidae), with descriptions of three new species from the Caucasus, pp. 39-76 in European Journal of Taxonomy 908 on pages 43-49, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.908.2337, http://zenodo.org/record/10149298