Epiperipatus machadoi Oliveira & Wieloch 2005, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Oliveira, Ivo De Sena
name: Wieloch, Alfredo Hannemann
name: Mayer, Georg
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Onychophora
Peripatidae
Epiperipatus
Epiperipatus machadoi

description: Epiperipatus machadoi (Oliveira & Wieloch, 2005) comb. nov.
(Figs 14–25, 27, 34–36)
Macroperipatus machadoi: Oliveira & Wieloch, 2005: 61.
Materiral examined. Holotype: female (Ipanema, Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural [= RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala; 19°43’S, 41°49’W, Minas Gerais, Brazil), 17/VI/1984, Ney Eny Carnevali, Col.; DZUFMG-ONY0001. Additional material: (1) male (Ipanema, RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala; 19°43’S, 41°49’W), 21/XII/2001, José Cassimiro da Silva Júnior, Col.; DZUFMG-ONY0002; (2) female (Ipanema, RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala; 19°43’S, 41°49’W), 21/XII/2001, José Cassimiro da Silva Júnior, Col.; DZUFMG-ONY0003; (3) female (Ipanema, RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala; 19°43’S, 41°49’W), I/2001, José Cassimiro da Silva Júnior, Col., DZUFMG-ONY0004; (4) female (Ipanema, RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala; 19°43’S, 41°49’W), 16/IX/2000, José Cassimiro da Silva Júnior, Col.; DZUFMG-ONY0005; (5) two females and one male (Ipanema, RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala; 19°43’S, 41°49’W), 16/VI/2008, Ivo de Sena Oliveira & Sebastião M. C. Genelhú, Col.; DZUFMG-ONY0067-69; (6) three females and one male (Ipanema, RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala; 19°43’S, 41°49’W), 26–27/VI/2008, Ivo de Sena Oliveira & Sebastião M. C. Genelhú, Col.; DZUFMG-ONY0092-95. (7) seven females and five males (Ipanema, RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala; 19°43’S, 41°49’W), 9–13/V/2009, Ivo de Sena Oliveira; Felipe N. S. Queirós & Cristiano Sampaio Costa Col.; MNRJ 0043.
* Oliveira & Wieloch (2005) reported an additional number of 32 leg pairs, but re-examination of their material in the present study revealed that this number does not occur in E. machadoi.
Diagnosis. Characteristic colour pattern described below; ventral organs conspicuous; dorsomedian furrow distinct; hyaline organs present; 41 to 49 antennal rings; accessory teeth with straight and parallel anterior and posterior faces; ventral face convex, forming acute angle with posterior face and obtuse angle with anterior face; five to seven scale ranks in the basal piece of dorsal primary papillae; oval-shaped apical piece asymmetric, formed by regular elongated scales; sensory bristle needle-shaped and curved posteriorly; 27–31 leg pairs with an overlap between males and females (males: 27–29, females: 29–31); fifth vestigial spinous pad present; nephridial tubercle of fourth and fifth leg pairs connected to third spinous pad; ventral foot surface with one or two bristles on proximal and distal setiform ridges; male anal glands absent.
Etymology. Macroperipatus machadoi, by original designation, was named in honour of Dr. Ângelo Barbosa Monteiro Machado, professor emeritus and lecturer at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
Description. Body length 20.1–66.4 mm, width 1.9–5.2 mm, height 1.0–4.0 mm. Dorsal colour pattern in vivo dark-brown; cephalic region brighter than trunk; light-brown lateral band hardly visible but present on each side above leg bases along entire body; dorsal midline dark; pattern of concave light-brown arcs on each side of midline, which enclose four single light-brown primary papillae; arcs form circle, in the middle divided by dorsal midline (Figs 14, 27); ventral body colour pattern brighter than dorsal surface, with bright papillae distributed in a random fashion over entire surface; high concentration of these papillae in anterior region (Fig. 15); ventral organs distinct; fixed specimens greyish, with the same pattern as living specimens; newborn specimens homogeneously dark-brown and without any pattern.
Antennae with 38–49 rings, 13 of which belong to antennal tip (twelve rings plus terminal button); 9th, 11th and 13th rings of antennal tip slightly reduced and thinner; one pair of eyes close to antennal bases; frontal organs present; mouth surrounded by seven pairs of oral lips, in addition to an unpaired anterior lip (anterior lobe); outer jaw blade with one principal and one accessory tooth (Fig. 16); inner blade with one principal and two accessory teeth and ten denticles (Fig. 17); accessory teeth with straight and parallel anterior and posterior faces; ventral face convex, forming acute angle with posterior face and obtuse angle with posterior face. Dorsal integument with twelve transverse continuous plicae in each segment, except at level of legs, where some of them are incomplete or bifurcate; seven plicae pass to ventral side; dorsomedian furrow distinct along entire body; hyaline organs present.
Number of leg pairs ranges from 27 to 31, with 27–29 leg pairs in males and 29–31 pairs in females (Tab. 3). Each leg with four complete spinous pads, which are smaller distally, and fifth vestigial pad; first leg pair reduced in size and with only three spinous pads; last leg pair reduced in size, but with four complete spinous pads; eight transverse leg rings with dermal papillae; feet with two anterior and one posterior foot papillae. Eversible coxal vesicles present within coxal furrows on ventral side of each leg, with the exception of the fourth and fifth leg pairs, as described above for E. acacioi.
Nephridial tubercle of fourth and fifth leg pairs between third and fourth spinous pads, connected to third pad and not dividing fourth pad in two parts. Crural tubercles present in males exclusively in two pre-genital segments (single tubercle per leg). Genital opening between penultimate pair of legs; single furrow parallel to main body axis divides male genital pad in two compartments whereas two perpendicular furrows divide female genital opening in four compartments. Anal glands absent in males. Anus in terminal position.
Primary papillae with roundish bases, voluminous and uniform both in size and shape; papillae may seem quadrangular by using light microscopy due to fixation (cf. Oliveira & Wieloch 2005); large primary papillae brighter than small primary papillae, appearing as dots on dorsal integument; accessory papillae low in number, usually one or rarely two/three between each two primary papillae (Figs 18–19). Basal pieces of primary papillae voluminous and with five to eight scale ranks (Fig. 20); basal-most scales cone-shaped. Constriction separating basal and apical pieces covered by scales. Apical pieces distinct from basal pieces, oval-shaped, asymmetric and with three antero-lateral and two posterior ranks of scales (Fig. 21); scales elongated and regular in shape. Basal and apical pieces of primary papillae elongated at level of legs (Fig. 22). Sensory bristles needle-shaped, well-developed, and directed posteriorly, longer than half length of apical piece. Ventral foot surface with one or two bristles on each setiform ridge (Figs 23–25).
Remarks on behaviour and habitat preference. Young specimens of E. machadoi inhabit leaf litter, while adults occur in various habitats, i.e., within and under rotten logs, inside fallen palm bracts, and among human rubbish close to the investigated forest fragment. One common feature of all collected specimens of E. machadoi is the fact that only single individuals were found, far apart from each other. Within the forest, specimens were collected close to the water courses or to the footpath borders. Notably, no specimens were found during the dry season, suggesting that the species may have a dormant period under these circumstances (e.g., Hardie 1972).
Geographical distribution. The species E. machadoi has been recorded exclusively from the type locality and is unknown from any other location.
Distinction from other species. E. machadoi can be easily recognized from other species occurring in Minas Gerais by its body size, number of legs, colour pattern of integument and, in particular, by the characteristic ovoid shape of the apical pieces of primary papillae. However, a similar shape of the apical pieces has also been reported from E. edwardsii (Blanchard, 1847) and E. imthurni (Sclater, 1888) (see Read 1988a). Nevertheless, the apical pieces in E. machadoi differ from those in E. edwardsii and E. imthurni by their asymmetrical organization, with a posteriorly shifted sensory bristle. Furthermore, E. machadoi differs from E. edwardsii and E. imthurni by a different colour pattern of the dorsal integument (Read 1988a, 1988b). The presence of both sexes in E. machadoi is also different from the parthenogenetic species E. imthurni (see Read 1988b). The variation in the number of leg pairs in E. machadoi is similar to that reported by Bouvier (1905) from E. brasiliensis (Bouvier, 1899a) and E. edwardsii. However, differences in the integument and in the shape of the apical pieces of dorsal primary papillae clearly distinguish E. machadoi from E. brasiliensis (see Read 1988a, 1988b). E. machadoi differs from E. acacioi mainly in the structure of primary papillae. The apical piece is spherical in E. acacioi whereas it is ovoid in E. machadoi. Furthermore, the constriction separating the basal and apical pieces is more conspicuous in E. acacioi whereas it is covered with scales in E. machadoi (Figs 32–33, 35–36).
Macroperipatus Clark, 1913
M. acacioi Marcus & Marcus, 1955 **
M. geayi (Bouvier, 1899b) *
M. guianensis (Evans, 1903) *
M. insularis insularis Clark, 1937 *
M. insularis clarki Arnett, 1961 *
M. machadoi Oliveira and Wieloch, 2005 **
M. ohausi (Bouvier, 1900) *
M. perrieri (Bouvier, 1899b) *
M. torquatus (von Kennel, 1883)
M. valerioi Morera-Brenes and León, 1986 *
description: Published as part of Oliveira, Ivo De Sena, Wieloch, Alfredo Hannemann & Mayer, Georg, 2010, Revised taxonomy and redescription of two species of the Peripatidae (Onychophora) from Brazil: a step towards consistent terminology of morphological characters, pp. 16-34 in Zootaxa 2493 on pages 25-31, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.195686