Nepalella wangi Liu, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Liu, Weixin
name: Wesener, Thomas
name: Golovatch, Sergei
name: Tian, Mingyi
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Chordeumatida
Lankasomatidae
Nepalella
Nepalella wangi

description: Nepalella wangi Liu, sp. nov.
Figs 2 D & 18–21
Material examined. Holotype male (SCAU n11), China, Chongqin, Wulong County, Huangying Town, Qimenxia, Cave I Dong, 29°10’33’’N, 107°42’12’’E, 1300 m a.s.l., 2015-VI-28, leg. Mingyi Tian, Weixin Liu, Xinhui Wang & Mingruo Tang.
Paratypes: 1 male, 3 females (SCAU n12), 1 male, 1 female (ZFMK MYR 6062), same locality and collecting data as in the holotype.
Name. Honours Mr. Xinhui Wang, a good collector of the SCAU caving team.
Diagnosis. N. wangi sp. nov. is similar to N. jinfoshan sp. nov., also with a large body and strongly incrassate male legs 3–7 as well as a strong basal process on the prefemur; but it differs from N. jinfoshan sp. nov., a congener similar in size, in the following characters: median lobe of the anterior gonopod sternum is larger while the caudal face of the posterior gonopod colpocoxite is differently shaped.
Description. Length ca 38–40 (♂) or 36–37 (♀) mm, midbody width 3.2 (♂) or 3.0 (♀) mm. Color in life (Figs 2 D, 18) uniformly light brown, eye patches brown.
Body with 30 segments. In width, collum <segment 2 <3 <4 <5 <8 = head <9–19 <6 = 7; posterior to segment 20, body very gradually tapering towards telson (Fig. 18 B).
Clypeolabral region densely setose. Eye patches triangular, each composed of 10–16 convex ocelli.
Antennae very long and slender, reaching posterior to body segment 6 (♂) or 5 (♀) when stretched posteriorly; four apical cones normal.
Mandible with an external tooth, and an internal tooth with nine cusps.
Collum with rudimentary paraterga. Integument smooth and shining (Fig. 18). Metatergal setation 3 + 3, typical, rather short, mostly obliterated, macrochaetae placed on clear knobs (Fig. 18 B); stricture between pro- and metazona shallow, inconspicuous (Fig. 21 A). Paraterga with small dorsolateral bulges, regularly rounded in dorsal view (Fig. 18).
CIX (15) = 1.13; MIX (15) = 0.92; MA (15) = 140°; PIX (15) impossible to evaluate due to insufficiently welldeveloped paraterga (Fig. 21 A). Axial suture distinct, pallid, usual (Fig. 18 B).
Legs long and slender, slightly longer in male, about 2.0 times as long as midbody height. Legs 1 and 2 slightly reduced, tarsi with usual ventral brushes, but without papillae. Other male tarsi conspicuously papillate (p) ventrally (Fig. 19). Male legs 3–7 distinctly incrassate (Fig. 19 A–B). Male legs 10 and 11 with coxal glands (cg); coxa 10 with a large caudal process (s) (Fig. 19 C); prefemur 11 with a basal digitiform outgrowth (d) ventrally (Fig. 19 D). Claws long, simple.
Male segment 7 slightly broader than adjacent ones, pleural arches ridge-like.
Anterior gonopods (agp) (Fig. 21 B–C) reduced, sternum with a large median lobe (ml) distally in caudal view, ml hinging into posterior gonopods; coxites (cxi) short, spine-like. Posterior gonopods (Figs 20, 21 D–E) hypertophied, with a large rounded bulge (r) at base on frontal face of colpocoxite (c) and an ear-shaped structure (e) at base on caudal face; colpocoxites slender, with a large, irregularly shaped structure (i) at midway on caudal face. Telopoditomere 1 (t1) rather large, particularly strongly setose; with a vestigial segment apically. Vulva (Fig. 21 D) with a small process on operculum (op).
Remarks. This species looks much like N. jinfoshan sp. nov., based both on body characters and gonopod conformation. Although N. wangi sp. nov. has retained a slightly pigmented body and ocelli, it seems to be a troglobite.
description: Published as part of Liu, Weixin, Wesener, Thomas, Golovatch, Sergei & Tian, Mingyi, 2017, Contributions to the millipede genus Nepalella Shear, 1979 from China, with four new species and first results on phylogeny based on DNA-barcoding (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida, Megalotylidae), pp. 455-482 in Zootaxa 4243 (3) on pages 467-470, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4243.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/400124