Piccola golovatchi Liu & Tian, 2015, sp. nov
Creators: name: Liu, Weixin
name: Tian, Mingyi
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Polydesmida
Paradoxosomatidae
Piccola
Piccola golovatchi

description: Piccola golovatchi sp. nov
Figs 1–4
Material examined. Holotype male (SCAU), China, Guangxi, Baise City, Tianlin County, Langping Town, Cave Shizikou Dadong, 24°36’49.79’N’, 106°16’38.16’’E, 839 m, 2014-I-19, leg. Tian Mingyi. Paratypes: 4 males, 5 females, 2 juv. (SCAU), same locality and collecting data as the holotype. 1 male, 1 female (IZAS), 1 male, 1 female (ZMUM), 5 males, 5 females, 3 juv. (SCAU), same locality, 2014-VI-13, leg. Tian Mingyi, Liu Weixin, Yin Haomin & Luo Xiaozhu.
Etymology. In honor of Prof. Dr. Sergei I. Golovatch, Institute for Problems of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia, a prominent expert on millipede taxonomy.
Diagnosis. Differs from congeners by having sternal processes present between coxae 3–7 in ♂, as well as by certain details of gonopod structure.
Description. Length ca 28.0–32.0 (♂) or 24.0–28.0 mm (♀), width of pro- and metazonae 1.5–1.8 and 2.0–2.2 (♂) or 1.8–2.2 and 2.2–2.8 mm (♀), respectively. Holotype 30.0 mm long, 1.8 and 2.2 mm wide on midbody pro- and metazonae, respectively. In width, head <collum> segment 2> 3> 4 <5 = 18> 19> telson. Coloration of living animals (Figs 1 A–C) rather uniformly yellowish to pallid. Antennomeres 5–7 brownish. Head sparsely setose, epicranial suture distinct (Fig. 2 A). Antennae rather long and slender, reaching back to segment 5 (♂) or 4 (♀) when stretched dorsally, antennomeres 5 and 6 each with a compact apicodorsal group of bacilliform sensilla.
Tegument very strongly shining, prozonae faintly microalveolate; surface of metaterga finely rugulose (Fig. 2 C). Collum with 3+3 setigerous tubercles at front margin; paraterga small, but evident, rounded (Figs 2 A–C). Metaterga 2–19 each with 1+1 setigerous tubercles in anterior row, occasionally metaterga 18 and 19 with 2+2 setigerous tubercles. Paraterga 2 strongly developed, directed downward (Figs 2 A–C). Paraterga 3 and 4 very narrow and small (Figs 2 B–C); paraterga 5–18 developed more strongly in ♂ than in ♀, calluses very thin in poreless segments, slightly thicker and sinuate in dorsal view in caudal 1/3 (marking ozopore position) in porebearing ones (Figs 2 E–F); paraterga 19 nearly suppressed, but its ozopores clear (Figs 2 H–I). Ozopores entirely lateral, lying inside an ovoid groove about 1/ 3 in front of caudal paratergal corner (Figs 2 E–F, H–I). Transverse sulcus incomplete on metaterga 5–7, more evident and complete on metaterga 8–18, reaching bases of paraterga, evident and rather deep, faintly striate at bottom (Figs 2 C, F, I). Stricture between pro- and metazona very clearly ribbed. Epiproct with a pair of paramedian tubercles near midway, tip evidently emarginate, pre-apical unusually strongly developed. Hypoproct roundly subtrapeziform, caudal setae distinctly separated, borne on evident knobs with a rounded lobe in between (Figs 2 H–I). Pleurosternal carinae poorly developed, only visible on segment 2 both in ♂ and ♀ (Fig. 2 B). Axial line missing.
Sterna sparsely setose, cross-impressions very deep. A large, subquadrate, setose tubercle between coxae 3 in ♂; an evident, setose, subtrapeziform process between coxae 4 in ♂; an ovoid setose tubercle between each of coxae 5–7 in ♂ (Fig. 2 A). Legs 1 short, following ones increasingly longer and more slenderer towards telson, ca 2.5–3.0 (♂) or 2.0–2.5 (♀) times as long as body height (Figs 2 A–B).
Gonopods (Figs 3 A–D) suberect. Coxite subcylindrical, poorly setose distodorsally, about 1/3 as long as telopodite. Prefemoral portion rather short, about 1/4 as long as acropodite, densely setose. Femorite long, slender, slightly curved dorsad. No obvious demarcation sulcus between femur and postfemur. Solenophore (sph) clearly coiled, divided into two distinct, irregularly shaped lobes apically. Seminal groove running entirely on mesal side of femorite before moving onto free solenomere (sl).
Remarks. Bacause of its pallid tegument and remarkably enlongated antennae and legs, P. golovatchi sp. nov. is probably a troglobite.
Distribution. China (Guangxi). Known only from the type locality (Fig. 4).
Shizikou Dadong is a large and rather long limestone cave (about 1600 meters long). It is a beautiful show cave, having some big halls, and numerous fantastic rock formations. Its underground river belongs to the Hongshui River drainage. Shizikou Dadong holds a rich fauna. Apart from Piccola golovatchi sp. nov., cavedwelling animals living in this cave are also Sinocylocheilus tianlinensis Zhou, Zhang & He, 2004, a completely blind and highly modified cave fish, Giraffaphaenops sp., a extremely adapted blind ground beetle (Deuve 2002), diplopods of the genera Glyphiulus sp. and Eutrichodesmus sp., bats and spiders, etc.
description: Published as part of Liu, Weixin & Tian, Mingyi, 2015, Occurrence of the millipede genus Piccola Attems, 1953 in China (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae), pp. 403-408 in Zootaxa 3904 (3) on pages 404-407, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3904.3.5, http://zenodo.org/record/236842