Tasmaniosoma maria Mesibov 2010, sp. n.
Creators: name: Mesibov, Robert
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Polydesmida
Dalodesmidae
Tasmaniosoma
Tasmaniosoma maria

description: <i>Tasmaniosoma maria</i> sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: F33C87DA-B288-4E93-8CA5-C8A744522097 Fig. 18B; map Fig. 24 <b>Holotype.</b> Male, Australia, Tasmania, Maria Island, Four Mile Creek, 42°37'20"S 148°04'11"E (EN 876804) ± 250 m, 60 m, 14 August 1991, R. Mesibov, QVM 23:46760, dissected, in genitalia vials. <b>Paratypes.</b> 1 male, 4 females, Pine Hut Creek, Maria Island, Tas, 42°39'25"S 148°05'49"E (EN 898765) ± 250 m, 20 m, 13 August 1991, R. Mesibov, QVM 23:46759; 1 male, 2 females, Blind Creek, Maria Island, Tas, 42°42'24"S 148°04'42"E (EN 882710) ± 250 m, 120 m, 15 August 1991, R. Mesibov, QVM 23:46761. <b>Other material.</b> None known. <b>Diagnosis.</b> Metatergites without tubercles; ring 6 sternite with discrete setal brushes on anterior margin; gonopod telopodite with stout, rod-like setae in longitudinal tract on posteromedial surface and flattened lateral and medial processes with irregular apical margins on either side of a large, central laminate process. <b>Description.</b> Male/female approximate measurements: length 16/ 16 mm, ring 12 paranota width 2.1/ 1.9 mm. Live colour not known; in alcohol, uniformly pale yellowish brown or decoloured. Male as for <i>T. armatum</i> in most non-gonopod details, but overall widths tergite 6&gt;5&gt;4&gt;3&gt;(2,head)&gt;collum, antennomere 3 longest, ring 12 paranota 1.4 × as wide as prozonite. Ring 6 sternite as for <i>T. armatum</i>, but with very short, thin sternal tab by leg 6, not bearing setae. Gonopod telopodite (Fig. 18B) straight, tapering distally, somewhat constricted just above base, posteriorly thickened as ridge running distally, divided above ca 2/3 telopodite height into cluster of six processes: (a) medial, rod-like, acuminate process directed distally and slightly anteriorly; (b) medial, flattened process with expanded tip and fimbriate distal margin, directed posterodistally; (c) medial, slen- der solenomere bent posteriorly near tip; (d) large, mediolaterally flattened laminate process with curved margin, broken posteriorly by U-shaped notch, the distal border of notch slightly extended and acute; (e) anterior lateral process rod-like, directed anterolaterally, tip slightly flattened and minutely toothed; (f) posterior lateral process rod-like, acuminate, directed posterodistally. Sparse, fine setae running from base distally on lateral side of posterior ridge to ca 1/3 telopodite height; mid-lateral, longitudinal line of 3–4 fine setae; 30–40 stout, rod-like setae from ca 1/3 to 2/3 telopodite height on posteromedial surface. Prostatic groove running on medial surface more or less directly to solenomere base, curving slightly around base of medial process with fimbriate tip. (Note: Fig. 18B is a reconstruction drawn from a paratype and modified using the holotype. None of the three available males has undamaged gonopods, and the stout, rod-like setae are almost all broken off, detectable only as large setal sockets.) Female with posterior margin of epigynum raised medially as large, rounded triangle with irregular edge. <b>Distribution.</b> So far known from eucalypt forest at three localities on North and South Maria Island, with a maximum separation of ca 10 km (Fig. 24). Co-occurs with <i>T. armatum</i> at Four Mile Creek, and <i>T. armatum</i> has also been collected at Ned Ryans Creek, between the two <i>T. maria</i> localities on North Maria Island. <b>Etymology.</b> Noun in apposition; all known specimens are from Maria Island. <b>Remarks.</b> The assignment of the Pine Hut Creek and Blind Creek females to <i>T. maria</i> is tentative. Th ey are larger than females of sympatric <i>T. armatum</i> but are otherwise very similar.
description: Published as part of <i>Mesibov, Robert, 2010, The millipede genus Tasmaniosoma Verhoeff, 1936 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Dalodesmidae) from Tasmania, Australia, with descriptions of 18 new species, pp. 31-80 in ZooKeys 41 (4)</i> on pages 70-71, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.41.420, http://zenodo.org/record/576649