Noteremus Mesibov 2009, gen. n.
Creators: name: Mesibov, Robert
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Polydesmida
Noteremus

description: Genus <i>Noteremus</i> Mesibov, gen. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 61172C12-8688-4E14-AFD7-EDBC72F1CA1E Type species: <i>Noteremus summus</i> Mesibov, sp. n., by present designation. Other assigned species: <i>N. infimus</i> Mesibov, sp. n. <b>Diagnosis.</b> Small to medium-sized dalodesmideans (to ca 20 mm long) with head + 19 rings (H+19); no sphaerotrichomes; pore formula 5, 7-18; slender, straight, unbranched telopodites with two terminal groups of closely packed, pointed, rod-like structures; and spinnerets with ventral setae at least twice as far apart as dorsal setae. Readily distinguished from <i>Paredrodesmus</i> by the presence of paranota as large lateral swellings on posterior segments, and from <i>Procophorella</i> by the absence of a narrow, well-defined, upwardly concave groove on the paranotal margin. <b>Etymology.</b> Greek <i>notos</i> (‘south’) + <i>eremos</i> (‘solitary’), for the isolated southern distribution of the genus; gender masculine. <b>Remarks.</b> <i>Noteremus</i> species are dalodesmidean in that the small, weakly joined gonocoxae are completely withdrawn into the aperture. However, the absence of sphaerotrichomes sets the genus apart from Dalodesmidae s. str. I therefore place <i>Noteremus</i> in the suborder Dalodesmidea without assigning it to a family. I did the same (Mesibov 2003) with the Tasmanian H+19 genera <i>Paredrodesmus</i> Mesibov, 2003 and <i>Procophorella</i> Mesibov, 2003, which like <i>Noteremus</i> have the unusual pore formula 5, 7-18. There are other similarities. In all species of all three genera, the ventral pair of spinneret setae is further apart than the dorsal pair (Figs 4 A-4D; type species of <i>Paredrodesmus</i> and <i>Procophorella</i> illustrated as examples). In <i>Noteremus</i>, <i>Procophorella</i> and four of the six described <i>Paredrodesmus</i> species the solenomere is a short, acuminate process near the telopodite apex, and in <i>Noteremus</i> and five <i>Paredrodesmus</i> species the telopodite bears clusters of stout, pointed, rod-like structures. It thus seems likely that <i>Noteremus</i>, <i>Paredrodesmus</i> and <i>Procophorella</i> constitute a natural group, but I am reluctant to erect for them a new family or subfamily at this time (see discussion below on <i>Asphalidesmus</i>). Clusters of rod-like structures are present on gonopods in the dalodesmid genus <i>Icosidesmus</i> Humbert &amp; de Saussure, 1869. Attems (1940) referred to the structures as “starker Stifte”, which I translate as stout pegs or pins, while Johns (1964) called them “long, stout setae”. Jeekel (2006) examined two New Zealand <i>Icosidesmus</i> species and named the structures “bacilli” (rods) and the clusters “bacillaries”. A similar cluster on the gonopod of <i>Tasmaniosoma armatum</i> Verhoeff, 1936 was called “eine starke Borstengruppe” by Verhoeff (1936), i.e. a stout group of bristles. If these structures are homologous, it is interesting that they can appear in different places on the telopodite, i.e. at mid-height in parallel clusters in <i>Icosidesmus</i> and <i>Tasmaniosoma</i>, in upright parallel clusters in <i>Noteremus</i>, and in sub-apical, sometimes fan-like clusters in several <i>Paredrodesmus</i> species.
description: Published as part of <i>Mesibov, Robert, 2009, A new millipede genus and a new species of Asphalidesmus Silvestri, 1910 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Dalodesmidea) from southern Tasmania, Australia, pp. 55-74 in ZooKeys 7 (7)</i> on pages 56-57, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.7.111, http://zenodo.org/record/576437
description: {"references": ["Mesibov R (2003) Two new and unusual genera of millipedes (Diplopoda: Polydesmida) from Tasmania, Australia. Zootaxa 368: 1 - 32.", "Attems C (1940) Das Tierreich. 70. Polydesmoidea. III. Fam. Polydesmidae, Vanhoeffeniidae, Cryptodesmidae, Oniscodesmidae, Sphaerotrichopidae, Peridontodesmidae, Rhachidesmidae, Macellolophidae, Pandirodesmidae. Walter de Gruyter and Co, Berlin, 577 pp.", "Johns PM (1964) Th e Sphaerotrichopidae (Diplopoda) of New Zealand. 1. Introduction, revision of some known species and description of new species. Records of the Canterbury Museum 8 (1): 1 - 49.", "Jeekel CAW (2006) Notes on four Dalodesmidae (Diplopoda, Polydesmida) from New Zealand. Myriapod Memoranda 8: 15 - 26.", "Verhoeff KW (1936) Die Sphaerotrichopidae der sudlichen Halbkugel und ihre Beziehungen. Zoologischer Anzeiger 114 (1 / 2): 1 - 14."]}