Miniaria ramifera Shear & Marek 2023, n. sp.
Creators: name: Shear, William A.
name: Marek, Paul E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Chordeumatida
Striariidae
Miniaria
Miniaria ramifera

description: Miniaria ramifera Shear & Marek, n. sp.
Figs 1–11, 39–45
Types: All specimens deposited in CAS. Male holotype, 6 male paratypes and 6 female paratypes from Mashel River at State Route 7, 46.86695°N, - 122.33645°W, 600′asl, Pierce Co., Washington, collected 19 March 2004 by W. Leonard and C. Richart. Parts of the holotype are on SEM stub WS36-8.
Diagnosis. Distinct from M. richarti n. sp. in having the gonopod anterior angiocoxite with a prominent subterminal posterior branch (aac, Figs 9, 11, 39–44). The gonopods are widely separated mesally, while those of M. richarti n. sp. are appressed to each other in the midline. The anterior angiocoxites are evenly curved, not sharply elbowed as in M. richarti n. sp..
Etymology. The species name is a Latin adjective, meaning “branch-bearing,” and refers to the subterminal posterior branch of the gonopod anterior angiocoxite.
Description. Male paratype from Mashel River. Length 3.5 mm, greatest width 0.31 mm. Nonsexual characters and secondary sexual modifications as described for genus.Gonopods (Figs 9, 11, 39–44) small; anterior angiocoxites (aac, Fig. 9) curved posteriad, slightly knobbed at tips, distally with prominent fringed margin, long, flattened subterminal process. Posterior angiocoxites (pac, Fig. 9) less than half length of anterior ones, fimbriate especially along posterior margin, sheathing single curved flagellocoxite or flagellum. Colpocoxite reduced to single branch with membranous base. (cc, Figs 39–44). Ninth legs (Fig. 10) as described for genus.
Females similar to males in all nonsexual respects.
Distribution. OREGON: Multnomah Co.: Ainsworth State Park, 45.596°N, - 122.051°W, 210′ asl, 15 November 1967, E. M. Benedict, 2 mm. Gobbert Butte, Gresham, 45.4731°N, - 122.4378°W, 30 October 2016, P. Nosler, m. Washington Co.: 1.7 mi W of Timber, T3N, R5W, sec.?, 300′ asl, 27 November 1971, E. M. Benedict, m. WASHINGTON: Pierce Co.: Ohop Valley Road at State Route 7, 600′ asl, 46.86695°N, - 122.33645°W, 12 January 2004, W. Leonard, m. Skamania Co.: Cook-Underwood Road, 1.4 mi NE of Cook, 450′ asl, 45.7239°N, - 121.64765°W, 30 November 2003, W. Leonard, 4 mm.
Notes. Gonopod variation in this species focuses on the degree to which the anterior angiocoxite is terminally knobbed and the extensiveness of the fimbriated posterior distal margin. In the Ainsworth State Park male (Fig. 43), the fimbriate part appears as a coalesced process. In the Timber (Fig. 44) and Mashel River (Figs 39, 40) males, it is more extensive and does not protrude, and while in the male from Cook-Underwood Road (Figs 41, 42) there is a broad fimbriate region. We do not have enough localities to determine if this is geographic variation or simply due to positioning on a microscope slide.
description: Published as part of Shear, William A. & Marek, Paul E., 2023, The millipede family Striariidae Bollman, 1893. VIII. Three new genera and four new species of minute millipedes from Oregon and Washington, USA (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida, Striarioidea), pp. 323-340 in Zootaxa 5264 (3) on pages 326-328, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5264.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7836674