Eutrichodesmus similis Golovatch, Geoffroy, Mauries &amp; VandenSpiegel 2009, sp. n.
Creators: name: Golovatch, Sergei
name: Geoffroy, Jean-Jacques
name: Mauriès, Jean-Paul
name: VandenSpiegel, Didier
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Polydesmida
Haplodesmidae
Eutrichodesmus
Eutrichodesmus similis

description: <i>Eutrichodesmus similis</i> Golovatch, Geoffroy, Mauriès &amp; VandenSpiegel, sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 9CE9BBFF-66DF-42BC-B4E8-C44E2C71F972 Figs 18-21. <b>Type material.</b> China, Guangxi Prov., Mulun Nature Reserve, Gui Dong 2 Cave, 18.V. 2007, leg. F. Bréhier (CHI-GX07-18/20), holotype &amp;male; (IZAS), paratypes: 2 &amp;male;&amp;male;, 2 &amp;female;&amp;female;, 2 juv. (MNHN JC 313), 1 &amp;male;, 1 &amp;female; (ZMUM), 1 &amp;male; (ZMUC), 1 &amp;male; (SEM); same locality, Shen Long Dong Cave, 22.V. 2007, leg. L. Deharveng &amp; A. Bedos (CHI-GX07-22/01); 1 &amp;male;, 3 &amp;female;&amp;female;, 4 juv. (SCAU). <b>Name.</b> To emphasize the obvious similarities with the preceding species. <b>Diagnosis.</b> See diagnosis of the previous species. <b>Description.</b> Length of adults of both sexes <i>ca</i> 11-13 mm, width 3.0- 3.3 mm; &amp;male;&amp;male; usually a little smaller than &amp;female;&amp;female;. Holotype <i>ca</i> 12 mm long and 3.0 mm wide. Coloration uniformly pallid or light yellowish, only seldom marbled light-brownish. All characters virtually as in <i>E. latus</i> sp. n. (Figs 18 A-C, E, F; 19B-F; 20A, B), but collum with a row of very conspicuous teeth at front margin (Figs 18D; 19A). Gonopods (Figs 20C, D; 21) slightly more complex than in <i>E. latus</i> sp. n. Telopodite distally somewhat expanded and folded, with a hairpad subapically. <b>Remarks.</b> Together with <i>E. latus</i> sp. n., this remarkable species partly bridges the gap between “doratodesmoid” Haplodesmidae and the large tropical family Cryptodesmidae Karsch, 1879 in showing the very broad and, at most, only slightly declivous paraterga so characteristic of cryptodesmids, including those occurring in East and Southeast Asia (Hoffman 1980; Simonsen 1990). However, the metaterga in Cryptodesmidae are often densely setose, the collum is always enlarged, flabellate and covering the head from above to an even greater extent than it does in Pyrgodesmidae, whereas the paraterga are often deeply incised caudolaterally or have clear radii, again much as in some Pyrgodesmidae. Therefore, it seems safe for the present to consider the Cryptodesmidae as a distinct family in the superfamily Polydesmoidea (Hoffman 1980, 1982 b; Simonsen 1990). What is more remarkable, however, is that the above two new Chinese species have the body so strongly flattened, and the paraterga apparently too broad to allow a tight volvation. This condition represents the opposite to that observed for <i>E. basalis</i> sp. n., in which the paraterga are obviously too short to permit complete volvation. In other words, within <i>Eutrichodesmus</i> we find species representing virtually the entire spectrum of “doratodesmid” evolution of conglobation, including a few exceptional cases of imperfect volvation. Concerning the two new Chinese species that are not capable of complete conglobation, the situation somewhat parallels that observed in <i>Proeilodesmus mecistonyx</i> Hoffman, 1990 (Sphaeriodesmidae Humbert &amp; DeSaussure, 1869, Sphaeriodesmoidea), a cavernicole from Mexico that is apparently incapable of volvation (Hoffman 1990). In contrast to “doratodesmids”, however, most of the characters of this millipede seem plesiomorphic and suggest a link between a presumed flat-bodied chelodesmidean (= leptodesmidean) ancestor and the remaining, convex, truly volvatory members of this rather large, Neotropical family (Hoffman 1990; Golovatch 2003).
description: Published as part of <i>Golovatch, Sergei, Geoffroy, Jean-Jacques, Mauriès, Jean-Paul &amp; VandenSpiegel, Didier, 2009, Review of the millipede family Haplodesmidae Cook, 1895, with descriptions of some new or poorly-known species (Diplopoda, Polydesmida), pp. 1-53 in ZooKeys 7 (7)</i> on pages 26-29, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.7.117, http://zenodo.org/record/576436
description: {"references": ["Hoffman RL (1980) Classification of the Diplopoda. Musee d'histoire naturelle: Geneve, 237 pp. (for 1979).", "Simonsen A (1990) Phylogeny and biogeography of the millipede order Polydesmida, with special emphasis on the suborder Polydesmidea. Museum of Zoology, University of Bergen, 114 p.", "Hoffman RL (1982 b) Diplopoda. In: Parker SP (ed.) Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York &amp; St. Louis, 2: 689 - 724.", "Hoffman RL (1990) A phylogenetically interesting sphaeriodesmid millipede from Oaxaca, Mexico (Polydesmida: Sphaeriodesmidae). Revue suisse de Zoologie 97 (3): 669 - 679.", "Golovatch SI (2003) A review of the volvatory Polydesmida, with special reference to the patterns of volvation (Diplopoda). African Invertebrates 44 (1): 39 - 60."]}