Riotintobolus mandenensis Wesener &amp; Enghoff &amp; Sierwald 2009, sp. n.
Creators: name: Wesener, Thomas
name: Enghoff, Henrik
name: Sierwald, Petra
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Spirobolida
Pachybolidae
Riotintobolus

description: <i>Riotintobolus mandenensis</i> Wesener, sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 7C0503C7-C70F-4FA4-A9A8-4E9F049E5391 <b>Material examined:</b> 1 &amp;male;, 16 &amp;female;, 20 imm. <i>Holotype:</i> 1 &amp;male; (36 mm long, dissected), FMMC W040 C, Province Toliara, Mandena, littoral forest on sand, 34 m, 24°57.260’ S, 46°59.499’ E, leg. T. Wesener et al., 02.VI.2007. <i>Paratypes:</i> 5 &amp;female;, 5 imm., FMMC W039 C, same data as holotype; 1 &amp;female;, 2 imm., CAS W039 C, same data as holotype; 1 &amp;female;, 2 imm., ZMUC W39 C, same data as holotype; 1 &amp;female;, 2 imm., ZMH W39 C, same data as holotype; 1 &amp;female;, 2 imm., ZSM W039 C, same data as holotype. <b>Other material examined:</b> 7 &amp;female;, 7 imm., <b>W039C</b>, same data as holotype, University Antananarivo. <b>Differential diagnosis:</b> the size and special colour pattern are unique for Malagasy millipedes. The gonopods of this species are similar in some aspects to those of <i>R. minutus</i> sp. n. and <i>R. anomalus</i> sp. n., but the posterior gonopods are of a unique shape. <b>Description.</b> <i>Measurements</i>: holotype with 41 podous and 2 apodous rings, 36 mm long, 3.1 mm wide. Females with 41–43 podous and 0–2 apodous body rings, 37–43 mm long, 4.2–4.4 mm wide. <i>Coloration</i> black, dorsally with an extraordinary wide, light brown stripe (Fig. 24A). Posterior half of collum dorsally black (Fig. 26A). Head, legs and antennae light brown. <i>Eyes</i> with 16–20 almost fused ocelli arranged in 4 or 5 rows (Figs 26A, C). <i>Antennae</i> protruding back to body ring 2 (Fig. 26A). <i>Legs</i> without tarsal pads. Male legs reach 0.7 times, female legs 0.6 times body diameter. <i>Preanal process</i> sharp-edged, straight, protruding above anal valves (Fig. 26B). Anal valves small, between anterior part and lips with a deep groove, margin towards groove sharpedged (Fig. 26B). <i>Anterior gonopod</i> sternite basally wide, apically elevated into a lobe with a triangular, well-rounded tip (Fig. 26I). Sternite tip almost as high as mesal process of coxite; latter relatively slender, elongated, longer than sternite (Fig. 26I). Telopodite on posterior side apically with a large triangular, retrorse process (Fig. 26K). Process projecting above coxite and telopodite (Fig. 26K). <i>Posterior gonopods</i> telopodite laterally with a single, large, finger-shaped process (Fig. 26J, x). Second small projection, where sperm canal is discharging, is located close to apex (Fig. 26M, y). A large, bi-lobical membrane present apically. Membrane apically three times wider than basally (Fig. 26L, z). A small, white, swollen area (Fig. 26M) is also located basally of membrane. <b>Intraspecific variation:</b> females exist in different size classes. The presence of apodous rings in front of the telson in mature specimens hint to the existence of postmaturity moults. <b>Distribution and ecology</b> : this species was only collected in the littoral rainforest on sand of Mandena (Fig. 25). Only 160 ha of this forest will remain after a large-scale mining project (Vincelette et al. 2003). All specimens were collected directly on the root layer under a thin layer of leaf litter. Disturbed specimens often did not curl into a spiral but remained motionless and stiff like a stick even when picked up. Because of their black/light-brown colour pattern (Fig. 24A), specimens of <i>R. mandenensis</i> were quite difficult to detect against the background consisting of sand with some darker top soil inclusion. The giant pill-millipede species <i>Sphaeromimus inexpectatus</i> Wesener &amp; Sierwald, 2005 is also only known from a small area surrounding Mandena (Wesen- er and Sierwald 2005). <b>Etymology:</b> <i>mandenensis</i>, adjective, refers to the only area where this species lives, the littoral forest of Mandena.
description: Published as part of <i>Wesener, Thomas, Enghoff, Henrik &amp; Sierwald, Petra, 2009, Review of the Spirobolida on Madagascar, with descriptions of twelve new genera, including three genera of ' fire millipedes' (Diplopoda), pp. 1-128 in ZooKeys 19 (19)</i> on pages 51-52, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.19.221, http://zenodo.org/record/576503
description: {"references": ["Vincelette M, Randrihasipara L, Ramanamanjato J-B, Lowry (II) PP, Ganzhorn JU (2003) Mining and environmental conservation: The case of QIT Madagascar Minerals in the Southeast. In: Goodman SM, Benstead JP (Eds) The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 1535 - 1537.", "Wesener T, Sierwald P (2005) The giant pill-millipedes of Madagascar: Revision of the genus Sphaeromimus, with a review of the morphological terminology (Diplopoda, Sphaerotheriida, Sphaerotheriidae). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56 (29): 557 - 599. [http: // research. calacademy. org / research / scipubs / pdfs / v 56 / proccas _ v 56 _ n 29. pdf]"]}