Epanerchodus latus Liu & Golovatch 2018, new species
Creators: name: Liu, Weixin
name: Golovatch, Sergei
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Polydesmida
Polydesmidae
Epanerchodus
Epanerchodus latus

description: Epanerchodus latus, new species
Figs 1–2.
Material examined: Holotype male (SCAU eCQ2-1) from China, Chongqing Municipality, Wushan County, Luoping Town, Qinglong Village, Qinglong Dong Cave, 6.VII.2014, colls: Mingyi Tian, Weixin Liu, Haomin Yin, Sunbin Huang and Xinhui Wang. Paratypes: 3 males, 9 females (SCAU eCQ2-2), same data as the holotype.
Diagnosis: Adult males of E. latus n. sp. are distinct from other Epanerchodus species based on the following combination of characters: (1) broad paraterga (widths of pro- and metazonae 1.5–1.6 and 3.5–3.6 mm) (Figs 1B– C); (2) gonopodal femorite with a finger-shaped process distally and a semi-circular process medially; (3) endomere tip unequally bifid; (4) endomere carrying a strongly curved subapical lobe (Fig. 2).
The new species is similar to E. stylotarseus (from caves in Guizhou, China), but is distinguished by (1) caudolateral corners of paraterga being faintly acute-angled (Fig. 1B) vs. strongly triangular in E. stylotarseus (Fig. 22); (2) endomere ribbon-shaped, strongly curved (Fig. 2) vs. subspiniform and suberect in E. stylotarseus (Fig. 23).
Description: Based on type specimens. Lengths of body ca 23–25 mm (males), 27–28 mm (females); widths of pro- and metazonae 1.5–1.6 and 3.5–3.6 mm (males), 2.0–2.2 and 4.0– 4.2 mm (females). Coloration: in alcohol nearly pallid. Only mouthparts light grey-brown and gonopodal telopodites yellowish (Fig. 1). Body: Adults with 20 rings. Width: head << collum <ring 2 <3 <4 <5–13, thereafter (rings 14–19) body gradually tapering posteriorly towards telson. Head: only clypeus densely pilose, vertex smooth, epicranial suture conspicuous (Fig. 1A). Antennae long, reaching past posterior margin of ring 3 when extended posteriorly, slightly clavate (Figs 1A– B). Exoskeleton: Collum with subrectangular caudolateral corners and a faint lateral incision/denticle on each side. Paraterga broad (Figs 1A–E), midbody paraterga extend metatergite to ca 2.3x width of prozonite. Paraterga 2–5 clearly upturned dorsally above a faintly convex dorsum, other paraterga flat (Fig. 1B). Caudolateral corners of paraterga posterior to collum increasingly acute-angled and projecting posteriorly past tergal margin, especially acute on rings 17–19 (Figs 1B–C). Integument shining (Fig. 1), translucent, prozonae very delicately alveolate. Limbus regularly denticulate. Constriction between pro- and metazonae narrow, shallow and smooth (Fig. 1B). Metatergal sculpture faint, with three irregular transverse rows of setigerous polygonal bosses. Sulcus between front and middle rows of setae a little deeper than that between middle and caudal rows (Fig. 1B). Tergal setae very short, sometimes present only on collum and rings 18–19. Three or four faint setigerous incisions at lateral margins of poreless and pore-bearing rings, respectively (Figs 1B–C). Pore formula normal: 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15–19, ozopores evident, dorsal, clearly set off from lateral margin and located between last and penultimate marginal incisions. Epiproct short, conical, pre-apical lateral papillae small. Hypoproct subtrapeziform, with two setigerous papillae. Pleurosternal carinae absent. Sterna sparsely setose, cross-shaped impressions (both axial and transverse) shallow (Fig. 1A). Legs long and slender, about 2.0 times as long as body ring height in both sexes, without sphaerotrichomes or sternal cones, prefemora not bulging laterally (Fig. 1A). Gonopods: (Figs 1D, 2A–B) Coxa large and squarish, as usual. Prefemur densely setose and nearly half the length of telopodite. Clivus (cl), or distolateral ridge on femorite, prominent; femorite with a curved finger-shaped process (p1) distally and a smaller semi-circular process (p2) medially. Endomere (en) strongly curved, tip unequally bifid, with a small, subapical, curved lobe (l). Seminal groove (sg) starting mesally, distally recurved laterad near base of p1, then turning laterobasad to run into an accessory seminal chamber, the latter opening on a hairy pulvillus on lateral face. An exomere absent.
Notes: Based on the long slender antennae and legs, and a depigmented cuticle, the species is most likely a troglobite.
Etymology: To emphasize the broad paraterga; masculine adjective.
description: Published as part of Liu, Weixin & Golovatch, Sergei, 2018, The millipede genus Epanerchodus Attems, 1901 in continental China, with descriptions of seven new cavernicolous species (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Polydesmidae), pp. 53-84 in Zootaxa 4459 (1) on pages 56-58, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4459.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/1458336