Chaleponcus dabagaensis Kraus 1958
Creators: name: Enghoff, Henrik
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Spirostreptida
Odontopygidae
Chaleponcus
Chaleponcus dabagaensis

description: Chaleponcus dabagaensis Kraus, 1958
Figs 4, 8–9, 12
Chaleponcus (Storthoporus) dabagaensis Kraus, 1958
Chaleponcus (Storthoporus) dabagaensis: Kraus 1960: 192, under “Species incertae sedis ”.
Diagnosis
Medium-sized. Differs from all other group members by the presence of a thumblike process (th) on the main stem of the telomere; also by the profile of the gonopod coxa (Fig. 9), especially its ‘hunch-backed’ lateral side, shared only by C. quasimodo sp. nov.
Type locality
TANZANIA: Iringa Region, Iringa District, Udzungwa Mts, Kwabuni Estate at Dabaga, 2100 m asl.
Material studied (total: 9 ♂♂)
Type material
Holotype ♂ (Überseemuseum Bremen), paratypes 5 ♀♀ (Überseemuseum Bremen and Senckenberg Museum Frankfurt), all from type locality; not studied.
Other material
All from TANZANIA, Iringa Region, Iringa District, Udzungwa Mts, all in ZMUC: Kiranzi-Kitungulu FR: 2 ♂♂, 08°09’S, 35°05’E, forest, Jan. 1996, M. Andersen, P. Gravlund, A. Jakobsen leg; 5, ♂♂, 08°07’S, 35°04’E, 1700 m asl, Mar.–Apr. 1996, L.L. Sørensen leg. New Dabaga/Ulangambi FR: 1 ♂, 08°06’47.4” S, 35°56’50.4” E, montane, 1855 m asl, plot MS – plot A, 11 Nov. 2000, Frontier Tanzania UMPS leg.; 1 ♂, 08°06’47.4” S, 35°56’50.4” E, montane, 1800–1955 m asl, plot MS – plot A, 29 Oct. 2000, Frontier Tanzania leg.
Description (male)
[data in square brackets from Kraus (1958), translated]
DIAMETER. 2.4 [2.4] mm, 49 [49] podous rings.
COLOUR. [Horn yellow, dorsally with darker marbling and medially with broad, yellow, longitudinal stripe; a blackish lateral stripe at ozopore level].
ANAL VALVES. Each with a long, slightly curving dorsal spine and a small, triangular ventral one; marginal rim raised; setiferous tubercles well developed, on small ‘ravelins’.
LIMBUS (Fig. 4D). With tongue-shaped, apically rounded lobes separated by narrow sinuses, lobes almost meeting at base, lobes striate on external surface.
TARSAL SETATION. Normal.
GONOPOD COXA (Figs 9, 12). About 4 × as long as wide. Lateral margin straight up to level of ms, then curving mesad and then lateral, leaving a deep, rounded incision and giving the entire coxa a ‘hunchback’ profile; apical margin gently convex, laterally gently concave, forming long, slightly curved lateral cucullar process. Metaplical flange (mf) ending in approximately right-angled-rounded corner; metaplical mesal margin basally straight, with rounded-triangular process (mp) just below level of arculus. Metaplical shelf (ms) simply rounded, projecting posteriad as well as mesad, continuing without transition in metaplical shelf-spine (mms); mms of medium length, curving first mesad, then obliquely basad, tip reaching level of basomere.
GONOPOD TELOPODITE (Figs 8, 12). Solenomere with a small, straight proximal spine (ps) with an associated lobe (as in C. gracilior sp. nov., but simpler). Main stem of telomere (st) with a characteristic thumblike process (th) distally. Telomere distally with two branches:
• a large, convoluted anterior lamella (al) with smooth edges, continuous with st on basal side of telomere,
• a posterior-distal lamella (pl) forming direct distal continuation of st but separated from it by rounded- triangular incision; margins of pl in part strongly serrated.
Distribution and habitat
Known from New Dabaga/Ulangambi FR and Kiranzi-Kitungulu FR, Udzungwa Mts. Altitudinal range: 1700–1955 m asl, 2100 m asl according to Kraus (1958). Habitat: montane forest. Recorded by Kraus (1958) from “Halbregenwald” (= semi-rain forest).
Coexisting species
In Kiranzi-Kitungulu FR, C. gracilior sp. nov. was found in the same sample as C. dabagaensis. In New Dabaga/Ulangambi FR C. gracilior sp. nov., C. mwabvui sp. nov., C. netus sp. nov. and C. termini sp. nov. were found in the same samples as C. dabagaensis. In addition, C. krai sp. nov., C. malleolus sp. nov., C. nectarinia sp. nov., C. teres sp. nov., C. vandenspiegeli sp. nov. and C. vilici sp. nov. were found in New Dabaga/Ulangambi FR.
Notes
The original description by Kraus (1958) leaves no doubt that the specimens at hand (which include topotypes) belong to C. dabagaensis. See under “Genus Chaleponcus ” for a review of the history of this species.
description: Published as part of Enghoff, Henrik, 2014, A mountain of millipedes I: An endemic species-group of the genus Chaleponcus Attems, 1914, from the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida, Odontopygidae), pp. 1-75 in European Journal of Taxonomy 100 (100) on pages 20-23, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2014.100, http://zenodo.org/record/3860450