Newportia pusilla Pocock 1893
Creators: name: Schileyko, Arkady
name: Iorio, Etienne
name: Coulis, Mathieu
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Chilopoda
Scolopendromorpha
Scolopocryptopidae
Newportia
Newportia pusilla

description: Newportia pusilla Pocock, 1893
Locus typicus: St. Vincent Island, Lesser Antilles.
Recent material from Martinique. 1 spm, HC, Les Trois-Ilets, Morne Bigot, PF, 408 m a.s.l., lat.14,51719, long. -61,06653, leg. MC, 18.11.2018 (CAEC, 141); 1 spm, HC, Le Prêheur, Pelée Mountain, Caldera, PF, 1155 m a.s.l., lat.14,81203, long. -61,17073, leg. MC, 16.11.2018 (CBGP, FAUN 17345); 1 spm, HC, Macouba, morne Macouba, PF, 1031 m a.s.l., lat.14,82212, long. -61,16529, leg. MC, 30.01.2019 (CAEC, 107); 1 spm, HC, Sainte-Luce, SF, 347 m a.s.l., lat.14,50745, long. -60,92475, leg. MC, 07. 07.02.2019 (CAEC, 128); 1 spm, HC, Sainte-Luce, SF, 300 m a.s.l., lat.14,50842, long. -60,92316, leg. MC, 07. 07.02.2019 (CAEC, 823); 1 spm, TE, Le Lorrain, Rivière Sylvetre, PF, 260 m a.s.l., lat.14,77525, long. -61,06527, leg. MC, 21.11.2017 (CAEC, 179); 1 spm, TE, Schoelcher, Plateau Concorde, PF, 582 m a.s.l., lat.14,67913, long. -61,10634, leg. MC, 03.05.2016 (CBGP, FAUN 17346); 1 spm, TE, Fond-Saint-Denis, Piton Boucher, PF, 1059 m a.s.l., lat.14,71461, long. -61,10501, leg. MC, 25.02.2018 (CAEC, 6099); 1 spm, HC, Grand-Rivière, Pelée Moutain, morne Macouba, PF, 1068 m a.s.l., lat.14,82098, long. -61,16589, leg. ML, 17.02.2020 (CAEC, 16247).
Material mentioned in Schileyko et al. (2018). Chemin de l’Aileron, Morne Rouge, 13.08.2017, lat. 14.8125, long. -61.1642, 1240 m, leg. MC, 1 spm (CAEC, 17294); Piton Boucher, Fond-Saint-Denis, summit, 21.05.2017, lat. 14.7146, long. -61.1050, 1059 m, leg. MC, 1 spm (CBGP, FAUN 17344).
Additional material. Brazil, Amazonas State, Reserva Florestal A. Ducke, 1 ad. (ZMMU, Rc 6704).
Сomposite diagnosis (based on adult ZMMU Rc 6704 and literature data). Cephalic plate lacking paramedian sutures or with the short (up to 1/6–1/5 of plate’s length) ones posteriorly. Anterior margin of forcipular coxosternite straight with very shallow median diastema; chitin-lines very short but distinct. Interior surface of tarsungula with two longitudinal ridges.
Tergite 1 with semicircular anterior transverse suture and lacks well-developed paramedian ones (sometimes with their rudiments just behind semicircular suture). Sternites 3(4)-19 with shallow (sometimes nearly complete but interrupted in the middle) longitudinal sulcus; posterior margin of ultimate sternite slightly convex or straight. Legs with lateral tibial spur, the latter short and flattened (not cylindrical), nearly triangular in shape.
Coxopleuron: pores of various sizes; conical coxopleural processes very short, strongly curved outwards. Ultimate legs: prefemur, femur and tibia virtually of the same length; tarsus visibly longer than prefemur and femur taken together. Ultimate prefemur with 3 (rarely 4) very large ventral spinous processes, femur lacks processes. Tarsus comparatively thin, consisting of unusually long and quite uniform articles; tarsus 1 slightly thicker and much longer than basal article of tarsus 2, thus there is no abrupt distinction into tarsus 1 and 2. Tarsus 2 fairly variable, consisting of from 5 to 15 articles (ZMMU Rc 6704 has 7+8 indistinct ones); some middle and/or the distal articles may not be completely separated, forming a kind of “half-articles” (see also tables 3 and 4 in Schileyko & Minelli (1999).
Ecology in Martinique. The ecology of N. pusilla is similar to that of N. longitarsis guadeloupensis, but the former differs mainly by the lower overall abundance and the distribution at higher altitudes, which reflects likely a more pronounced hygrophilia.
Range (after Schileyko et al. 2018: 571). Antilles: St. Vincent, Martinique, Cuba (?); South America: Venezuela, Brazil (Amazonas), Colombia (Andean Region).
Remarks. The latest morphological data on N. pusilla are of Ribaut (1913: 71) and Attems (1930: 274) —both of which are quite brief and lack drawings. Since issuing of Schileyko & Minelli (1999), who gave extended data on morphological variability of N. pusilla and discussed its validity, this species was mentioned in the Newportia -key of Schileyko (2013: 47) and (with no morphological details) in the phylogeographical analysis of Edgecombe et al. (2015: 73). The first record from Martinique is by Schileyko et al. (2018: 571).
description: Published as part of Schileyko, Arkady, Iorio, Etienne & Coulis, Mathieu, 2024, A synthesis on the scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) of Martinique, with description of Cryptops (Trigonocryptops) amicitia n. sp. and new data on some Neotropical scolopendromorphs, pp. 563-599 in Zootaxa 5486 (4) on pages 592-593, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5486.4.6, http://zenodo.org/record/13210600