Lissodesmus alisonae Jeekel 1984
Creators: name: Mesibov, Robert
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Polydesmida
Dalodesmidae
Lissodesmus
Lissodesmus alisonae

description: Lissodesmus alisonae Jeekel, 1984
Figures 13, 14, 69ali, 70ali, 71ali, 73 (map)
Lissodesmus alisonae Jeekel, 1984: 96.
Material examined. Holotype (not seen). Male, Australia, Tasmania. 8 km NW of Frankford, 15 km SW of Beaconsfield, 24.xi.1980, C.A.W. Jeekel & A. Jeekel-Rijvers. The type is said to be deposited in TM (Jeekel, 1984: 86), but has not yet been received there.
Paratypes. 12 males, 21 females, 1 stadium 7 male, 1 stadium 6 female, details as for holotype. These specimens are listed as paratypes by Jeekel (1984: 96) but their present locations are unknown and they have not been examined.
Other material. 286 males, 308 females and 129 juveniles from 181 localities (see “ Lissodesmus supplement” for details).
Description. Male c. 18 mm long, H = 1.7 mm. In alcohol, well-coloured specimens under low magnification with pale brown body colour, pale red posterior metatergal margins. Antenna moderately long (Fig. 69 ali). Paranota reduced, R = 1.4 (Fig. 70 ali); posterior corners slightly turned up. Legs robust, tarsus about as long as femur (Fig. 71 ali). Telopodite (Figs 13, 14) broad at base with abrupt narrowing at start of prefemoral process, reaching almost to leg 5 when retracted. Solenomere arising at about half the telopodite height, directed distally at a small angle to the telopodite axis, terminating with toothed subapical collar at one-third to half the prefemoral process height. Tibiotarsus pointed and mesolaterally flattened, parallel to and almost as wide as solenomere but somewhat shorter and bending slightly laterally. Femoral process arising just proximal to solenomere origin, not pressed close to prefemoral process, forked at about one-quarter its length, branches more or less equal, blade-like, pointed; anterior branch directed distally and slightly concave posteriorly, terminating just distal to solenomere tip at half to two-thirds the length of prefemoral process, posterior branch gradually curving anteriorly, its tip sometimes lying between anterior branch and prefemoral process. Prefemoral process about half the width of telopodite base, slightly tapered, the tip curved posteriorly with small, blunt, apical and subapical teeth. Uncus prominent, arising centrally on prefemoral process at just under half the process length (at level of solenomere tip).
Distribution and habitat. Common in dry eucalypt forest, wet eucalypt forest and subalpine woodland over c. 6000 km 2 in north central Tasmania (Fig. 73), from sea level to at least 1000 m. The principal eastern range limit for L. alisonae is the biogeographical divide known as the East Tamar Break (Mesibov, 1994, 1997), although the species extends eastward along the north coast into the lower Brid River catchment, and a possibly isolated population has been sampled at Cuckoo, near Scottsdale. L. alisonae reaches the Don River in the west and Projection Bluff on the north-east corner of the Central Plateau. East of the Plateau L. alisonae is parapatric with L. hamatus (Mesibov, 1997) along a more or less SW-NE line across the Northern Midlands. L. alisonae has been found to be abundant in a second-rotation Pinus radiata plantation at Stoodley (Mesibov, 2005) and sometimes occurs in part-native gardens in the Launceston area. Throughout its range, populations are largest in the richly organic soil under dense stands of the understorey tree Pomaderris apetala.
Remarks. L. alisonae varies somewhat in size and coloration, with the smallest and palest forms found in dry forest on relatively infertile soils. In the north-eastern portion of the L. alisonae range, the femoral process on the gonopod is longer and the posterior branch less curved (Fig. 14).
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 109-110, DOI: 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.4, http://zenodo.org/record/8064747