Lissodesmus martini
Creators: name: Mesibov, Robert
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Polydesmida
Dalodesmidae
Lissodesmus
Lissodesmus martini

description: Lissodesmus martini (Carl, 1902)
Pseudoprionopeltis martini Carl, 1902: 599.— Brolemann, 1916: 541.— Chamberlin, 1920: 133.— Verhoeff, 1932: 1982.— Attems, 1940: 453.
Pseudoprionopeltis (Australopeltis) martini Johns, 1964: 47.
Lissodesmus martini Jeekel, 1983: 150.— Jeekel, 1984: 86.
Material examined. Holotype (not seen). Male, Australia, Victoria. Melbourne, date of collection unknown, collected by “ Consul Martin ”, deposited in the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle in Geneva. According to Johns (1964: 47), who re-illustrated the gonopod of the type, the holotype body has been lost and only a slide mount of the gonopods remains.
Paratypes. None designated.
Other material. 50 males, 19 females and 8 juveniles from Acheron Gap, “The Beeches” near Marysville, Belgrave West, the Bennison Plains area NE of Licola, Coalville, Cockatoo Creek, Emerald, Erica, Gembrook, the Latrobe River near Powelltown, Mt Observation, Narracan, Narracan East, Neerim, Noojee, Sherbrooke Forest, Slippery Hill N of Dargo, Starvation Creek NE of Warburton, Toolangi, Yallourn North and Yinnar (see “ Lissodesmus supplement” for details). I have not examined the male from Ferntree Gully National Park described by Jeekel (1983).
Description. Male c. 18 mm long, H = 1.6 mm. In alcohol, well-coloured specimens under low magnification with pale brown body colour, red speckling anteriorly on metatergites and a red transverse band posteriorly on prozonites, paranota near-white. Antenna moderately long (Fig. 69 mar). Paranota fairly wide, R = 1.5, with about 3 posterior marginal teeth (Fig. 70 mar), posterior corners not turned up. Legs robust, tarsus longer than femur, tibia with prominent ventral distal swelling (Fig. 71 mar). Telopodite (Figs 49, 50) almost reaching leg 5 when retracted. Solenomere arising at about half the telopodite height, directed posterodistally at a small angle (c. 30°) to telopodite axis, terminating with toothed subapical collar at just under half the prefemoral process height. Tibiotarsus origin on posteromesal surface of telopodite, not close to solenomere origin; tibiotarsus a thin, pointed rod almost parallel to solenomere but curving anterodistally, about half the length of the solenomere. Femoral process arising at level of solenomere origin, a massive, wide, bluntly pointed blade directed distally, close to prefemoral process, terminating at just over half the prefemoral process height (distal to solenomere tip). Prefemoral process at its base about half as wide as telopodite base, curving slightly mesally at half its height, bent posteromesally at about three-quarters its length, the tip expanded and dentate on its posterior-facing edge. Uncus prominent, arising near mesal edge of prefemoral process at just under half the process height (at same level as solenomere tip), with inconspicuously dentate outer edge.
Distribution and habitat. In dry and wet eucalypt forest and cool temperate rainforest in the Central Highlands and parts of Gippsland. To judge from earlier records, L. martini once ranged east and north-east from Melbourne for ca. 200 km, and it is still Victoria’s most widely distributed Lissodesmus species (Fig. 79). It is abundant in the Yarra Ranges and occurs up to at least 1120 m elevation.
Remarks. Carl (1902) characterised Pseudoprionopeltis as having 21 segments behind the head, rather than the expected 19 or 20. The correct number, 20, was first given by Johns (1964) for L. martini. Enghoff et al. (1993: 148) suggested that Carl’s “21” may have been a typographical error.
Chamberlin (1920) gave Polydesmus (Oxyurus) serratus Hutton, 1877 as a synonym of P. martini, and listed the type locality of serratus, Dunedin in New Zealand, as the only P. martini locality. This was clearly an error, as Chamberlin (1920: 133) also claimed that both the identity and generic placement of P. serratus were impossible to determine.
This is the fourth time L. martini has been described and illustrated, and I am contributing little new other than a scanning electron micrograph of the gonopods. L. martini varies only slightly over most of its range, but specimens from the east of that range are smaller and paler than those from the west.
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 118-119, DOI: 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.4, http://zenodo.org/record/8064747