Hylomus piccolo Nguyen, Vu & Nguyen, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Nguyen, Anh D.
name: Vu, Tam T. T.
name: Nguyen, Thu-Anh T.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Polydesmida
Hylomus

description: Hylomus piccolo sp. nov.
Figs 1, 2, 3, 4
Material examined.
Holotype. Vietnam • 1 male; Cao Bang Province, Pia Oac-Pia Den National Park; 22.5943 ° N, 105.8846 ° E; 1200 m a. s. l.; 9 May 2021; Anh D. Nguyen leg.; bushes; IEBR-Myr 904 H. Paratypes. Vietnam • 10 males, 5 females; same data as for holotype; EBR-Myr 904 P • 1 male, 1 female; same data as for holotype; IEBR-Myr 901.
Diagnosis.
The species can be discriminated from the congeners by the presence of long spiniform paraterga, midbody metaterga with only two rows of 1 + 1 small setiferous spines in the middle and 2 + 2 longer setiferous spines near posterior margin; male femora 6 with a large tubercle ventrally; sternite 5 with a large, sparsely setose, bifid, trapeziform lamina between male coxae 4; epiproct without conspicuous setiferous knobs near tip; gonopod lamina lateralis broadly rounded, partly folded to sheathe distal part of solenomere; gonopod lamina medialis with a small rounded lobe at middle.
The new species is similar to Hylomus namek Nguyen et al., 2019 but differs from this species by the following characters: the ventral side of male femora 6 with a big, robust tubercle in the middle (vs. femora 6 and 7 with large tubercles); longer spiniform paraterga; and gonopod lamina medialis with a small rounded lobe in the middle (vs. without processes).
Etymology.
The name refers to “ piccolo ”, a main character of the Japanese manga “ Dragon balls ” by Toriyama Akira (Japan). Noun in apposition.
Description.
Length c. 11.6–12.8 mm (male), 13.9–15.2 mm (female); width of midbody pro- and metazona (distance between two paratergal tips) 0.6–0.8 mm (male), 1.12–1.25 mm (female) and 3.1–3.3 mm (male), 3.4–3.6 mm (female), respectively. Holotype length c. 11.8 mm, width of midbody pro- and metazona 0.74 mm and 3.2 mm, respectively.
Coloration: Generally darkish-red to darkish-brown except paraterga, sterna, legs whitish-yellow; distal part of main branch pinkish.
Head (Fig. 1 A – C): Clypeolabral region densely setose, vertex sparsely setose. Epicranial suture distinct, dividing frons into two equal parts; with setae along the suture. Antenna slender, extremely long, reaching back to body ring 7 if stretched along the body axis; antennomere 1 <7 <6 <2 <3 = 4 = 5 in length.
Collum (Fig. 1 C): Slightly narrower than head; surface dull, coarsely microgranulate; with two rows of spines: 3 + 3 spines in anterior row and 2 + 2 spines in posterior row. Paraterga of collum well developed, spiniform; directed dorsad; highly elevated above dorsal surface; with two conspicuous teeth on anterior side.
Body rings: Ring 3 <4 <2 = 5–16 in width, thereafter gradually tapering towards telson. Prozona finely shagreened; metazona and pleura with microgranulations. Transverse sulcus present, but inconspicuous on metaterga 5–18. Axial line missing. Metaterga with two rows of 1 + 1 smaller setiferous spines in middle and 2 + 2 longer setiferous spines near posterior margin (Fig. 2 B). Suture between pro- and metazona broad, very shallow. Pleurosternal carinae present as a complete keel on body rings 2–3, then missing on subsequent body rings.
Paraterga (Figs 1, 2): Very well developed; directed dorsad; long and spiniform with a large branch and 2–3 tiny teeth on anterior side (2 on poreless body rings and 3 on pore-bearing rings) and with 1 larger spine on posterior side. Paratergum on ring 19 directed caudad. Ozopore located between the second tooth and main branch of paraterga, visible in dorsal view.
Telson (Fig. 3 A, B): Epiproct without conspicuous setiferous knobs near tip, but broadly truncated; tip with four spinnerets; lateral tubercles well developed (Fig. 3 A). Hypoproct subtrapeziform, with two distolateral, completely separated, setiferous knobs (Fig. 3 B).
Legs: Extremely long, slender and thin, c. 1.8–2.0 times as long as midbody height. Prefemora not swollen. Male femora 6 each ventrally with a large, robust tubercle in middle (Figs 1 A, 3 C).
Sterna: With distinct cross-impressions, no modification – except a large, sparsely setose, bifid, trapeziform lamina between male coxae 4 (Figs 1 A, 3 D).
Gonopod (Fig. 4): Suberect. Coxite (co) cylindrical, larger than femorite, sparsely setose distodorsally. Prefemorite (pref) densely setose, equal to femorite as well. Femorite (fe) slightly enlarged distad (from ventral view); without a demarcation with postfemoral region. Postfemoral region inconspicuous. Solenophore (sph) well developed; lamina lateralis (ll) broadly rounded, partly folded to sheathe distal part of solenomere; lamina medialis (lm) with a small rounded lobe at about midway. Seminal groove running entirely on mesal side, then entering a flagelliform solenomere (sl), solenomere partly sheathed by solenophore. Tip of solenophore rounded.
DNA barcoding.
(Appendix 1) A fragment of the COI gene is accessioned at NCBI GenBank with the following accession number PQ 676351. The new species exhibits a COI gene similarity of 86.22 % and 86.57 % (OR 765910 and MG 669370, respectively) identity with Hylomus cervarius (Attems, 1953).
description: Published as part of Nguyen, Anh D., Vu, Tam T. T. & Nguyen, Thu-Anh T., 2025, Mountainous millipedes in Vietnam. III. Two new dragon millipedes from limestone mountains in northern Vietnam (Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae, Hylomus), with an identification key to Vietnamese Hylomus species, pp. 247-262 in ZooKeys 1223 on pages 247-262, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1223.139649