Antichiropus apricus Car & Harvey & Hillyer & Huey 2019, n. sp.
Creators: name: Car, Catherine A.
name: Harvey, Mark S.
name: Hillyer, Mia J.
name: Huey, Joel A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Polydesmida
Paradoxosomatidae
Antichiropus
Antichiropus apricus

description: Antichiropus apricus Car, n. sp.
(Figs 6 A–F, 11)
ZooBank LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 5D6A7C33-0161-4102-AC10-8D747AEE9F91
Type material examined. Australia: Western Australia: holotype male (damaged), Marble Bar, Iron Clad Hotel, 21°10’21”S, 119°44’43”E, 22 January 2012, hand collected from verandah, P. Bolton (Sulphur Springs MB59) (WAM T144590). Paratypes: 1 male, collected with holotype) (WAM T120063, GenBank accession number COI, MK 735886); 11 males (damaged), 3 females, Marble Bar, Iron Clad Hotel, 21°10’21”S, 119°44’43”E, 22 January 2012, hand collected from verandah, P. Bolton (Sulphur Springs MB59 (WAM T146701).
Other material examined. Australia: Western Australia: 2 males, collected with holotype (WAM T120061); 1 male, collected with holotype (WAM T120062); 1 male, collected with holotype (WAM T125295, GenBank accession number 12S, MK 735769; 28S, MK 735827; COI, MK 735892; COIII, MK 735948; CytB, MK 735997); 1 female (damaged), 150 km W of Marble Bar, 21°05’53”S, 119°11’10”E, 25 January 2012, hand collected riverine area, P. Bolton (Sulphur Springs site 2-134) (WAM T125297).
Diagnosis. This species is recognised by its broad, squat, slightly bulbous femorite. Several other species have broad femorites but only one other species, A. verutus Car, n. sp. (Fig 39) has a short, broad femorite. The latter has a distinctive, horizontally orientated main femoral process (MFP) which A. apricus Car, n. sp. does not.
Description. Male holotype: Body ca. 17 mm long; midbody ring ca. 1 mm wide, with shallow, smooth waist, metazonite and prozonite of similar width.
Colour (in alcohol) uniform dark chestnut brown, slightly paler ventrally (Fig 6A): leg colour dark chestnut brown, paler coxae. No paranota (Fig 6B).
Sternites without obvious processes/tubercles, sternal lamella broad, short, rectangular.
Leg coxal processes absent but for slight protuberances on leg pair 2. Anterior spiracles at midbody small, ovoid, flat.
Head smooth without noticeable sculpturing; frons almost devoid of setae; face broad, punctate, maximum width ca. 5x the distance between antennal sockets; sockets separated by ca. 1.5x width of socket.
Antennae of moderate length, reaching to ring 2, relatively robust, slightly clavate.
Collum ca. 0.6x as long as head (lateral view) (Fig 6A).
Gonopod short, reaching anterior edge of ring 6; coxa (C) shorter and more robust than femorite, with distinct ridge on anterior surface; prefemur (PF) much shorter than femorite, pronounced lip, setose where it joins coxa; femorite (F) 2/3 acropodite length, stout, widest at midpoint, narrower towards apex; main femoral process (MFP) moderately long, ca. 1/4 solenomere length, asymmetrically pointed; second femoral process (fp1) absent; prolongation of femorite (prof), broad, triangular, pointed; solenomere (S) relatively short, forming open loop, thinner than femorite, generally of similar thickness along length but slightly thicker mid-length; solenomere tip curved, broad, flattened, roundly pointed end; solenomere process (sp1) at solenomere tip, small, double-pointed (Figs 6 C–F).
Female: Similar in colour and general appearance to male but body stouter (ca. 1.5 mm wide) and legs relatively shorter (WAM T120063).
Intraspecific variation in femorite shape. The gonopod femorites of all but one examined specimen fit the description given above. One specimen (WAM T120063) however, has a femorite of similar width along its length, narrowing to apex: it conforms to the species’ description in all other aspects of its gonopodal morphology.
Distribution. This species has been found only at the hotel in Marble Bar, one of the hottest places in Western Australia (Australian Bureau of Meteorology 2018) (Fig 11).
Etymology. This millipede species survives at Marble Bar, where conditions are semi-arid and extremely hot.
The name reflects the species’ living conditions (Latin, adjective, apricus, exposed to the sun).
description: Published as part of Car, Catherine A., Harvey, Mark S., Hillyer, Mia J. & Huey, Joel A., 2019, The millipede genus Antichiropus (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae), part 3: species of the Pilbara bioregion of Western Australia, pp. 1-71 in Zootaxa 4617 (1) on pages 16-17, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4617.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3248154