Lissodesmus plomleyi Mesibov 2005, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Mesibov, Robert
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Polydesmida
Dalodesmidae
Lissodesmus
Lissodesmus plomleyi

description: Lissodesmus plomleyi sp. nov.
Figures 64, 69plo, 70plo, 71plo, 76 (map) Lissodesmus sp. NE4.— Mesibov, 1996: 16.— Mesibov, 1998: 155.
Material examined. Holotype. Male, Australia, Tasmania. East of Rattler Hill, EQ743353 (41°13'49''S 147°53'12''E), 650 m, 18.i.2005, R. Mesibov, QVM 23:45893.
Paratypes. Male, Rattler Hill, EQ744353 (41°13'48''S 147°53'15''E), 650 m, 6.ix.1990, QVM 23: 15466, dissected; female, Rattler Hill, EQ744353 (41°13'48''S 147°53’15”E), 650 m, 7.ix.1990, QVM 23: 15468; female, Rattler Hill, EQ744353 (41°13'48''S 147°53'15''E), 650 m, 8.ix.1990, QVM 23: 15467; male, Ben Nevis, EQ538147 (41°25'02''S 147°38'37''E), 890m, 15.iii.1993, QVM 23: 15465, dissected; male, Caldbeck Creek, EQ471205 (41°21'55''S 147°33'47''E), 850 m, 26.xii.1994, R. Mesibov & T. Moule, AM KS91184 (formerly QVM 23:17758).
Description. Male c. 11 mm long, H = 1.2 mm. In alcohol, under low magnification very pale brown in body colour with darker brown speckling in narrow transverse band posteriorly on metatergites. Antennae short, clavate (Fig. 69 plo), about 1.75X a socket diameter apart. Paranota reduced, R = 1.4 (Fig. 70 plo), posterior corners not turned up. Legs robust, tarsus longer than femur, tibia with prominent ventral distal swelling (Fig. 71 plo). Epiproct with prominent paired, bluntly rounded projections. Telopodite (Fig. 64) widest near solenomere origin, reaching just past leg 6 when retracted. Solenomere arising at one-third the telopodite height, directed posterodistally at a small angle to telopodite axis, curving gradually laterally, terminating with small subapical projection at about one-quarter the prefemoral process height. Tibiotarsus roughly parallel to solenomere and about as wide but shorter, rod-like and pointed. Femoral process arising at level of solenomere origin, blade-like, forked at just over half its length; anterior branch basally pressed close to prefemoral process, directed distally, pointed and terminating at one-third to half the prefemoral process height (distal to solenomere tip); posterior branch short, wide, pointed, arising from anterior branch at right angle. Prefemoral process at origin nearly as wide as telopodite base, slightly sinuous in anterior view, curving gradually posteriorly from about half its height, the distal third with a few very long, straight teeth on mesal edge directed basally and posterobasally and on lateral edge posterobasally. Uncus prominent, deeply notched distally, arising from mesal side of prefemoral process at one-quarter to one-third the process height (distal to solenomere tip).
Distribution and habitat. Known from wet forest at three localities above 600 m in north-east Tasmania; the maximum distance between the localities is c. 30 km (Fig. 76). The L. plomleyi range has been carefully searched for millipedes and this species appears to be genuinely rare.
Etymology. In honour of Brian Plomley (1912-1994), Tasmanian scientist and scholar who encouraged biological research in north-east Tasmania.
description: Published as part of Mesibov, Robert, 2005, The millipede genus Lissodesmus Chamberlin, 1920 (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Dalodesmidae) from Tasmania and Victoria, with descriptions of a new genus and 24 new species, pp. 103-146 in Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (2) on pages 122-123, DOI: 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.4, http://zenodo.org/record/8064747