Zoosphaerium masoala Wesener & Sagorny 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Wesener, Thomas
name: Sagorny, Christina
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Diplopoda
Sphaerotheriida
Arthrosphaeridae
Zoosphaerium
Zoosphaerium masoala

description: Zoosphaerium masoala sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: F62E0E9E-172D-4076-BD01-509AD42BAE89
Figs 2F, 3, 10A, 11
Diagnosis
The shape and position of the locking carinae, as well as the slender posterior telopods place Z. masoala sp. nov. in the Z. platylabum species-group. Zoosphaerium masoala sp. nov. differs from all other species of the group in the combination of the presence of two stridulation ribs on the male harp, slender posterior telopods in which both fingers reach almost the same length and>10 apical cones on the antenna.
Etymology
‘Masoala’, noun in apposition, after the forest and peninsula of Masoala, the largest remaining area of lowland rainforest on Madagascar, for which the species described here is the first recorded giant pillmillipede species (Fig. 3).
Material examined
Holotype MADAGASCAR – Toamasina • ♂; Région Sava, Parc National de Masoala, Forêt de Tampolo, 1.2 km S of Ambodiforaha village; 15°43′45.6″ S, 49°57′49.4″ E; alt. 15 m; pitfall buckets, littoral forest; 11 Dec. 2015; V. Soarimalala leg.; coll. no. VS-2582; FMNH-INS 3195651.
Description
Male
BODY LENGTH. Length 23.9 mm, width of thoracic shield 14.2 mm (widest), height of thoracic shield 7.2 mm (highest).
COLORATION. Head, collum, thoracic shield and tergites dark brown to black. Grooves of thoracic shield greenish, anal shield lighter brown (Fig. 2F). Antennae and legs green.
HEAD. Eyes with more than 50 ommatidia. Antennae short, protruding back to leg 4. Length of antennomeres 1>2>3=4 =5<6. A shallow groove present on antennomere 1, disc with 33/12 apical cones.
GNATHOCHILARIUM AND MANDIBLE. Not dissected.
STIGMATIC PLATES. First stigmatic plate triangular, apex well-rounded, slender, curved towards coxa. Hair most abundant on apical margin (Fig. 11C).
PLEURITES. First pleurite extending slightly posteriorly in a long, thin process.
COLLUM. Margins covered with a few short hairs, central part glabrous.
THORACIC SHIELD. Surface like those of tergites, glabrous.
TERGITES. Smooth and glabrous, no small pits. Paratergites projecting slightly posteriorly.
ENDOTERGUM. Inner section with numerous short spines and isolated bristles. Between marginal ridge and inner area a single row of sparse large, circular cuticular impressions, distance between impressions larger than their diameter. Marginal brim wavy towards inner area. Externally 1 or 2 rows of marginal bristles. Bristles scaly, of medium length, longest reaching slightly above tergite margin (Fig. 10A).
ANAL SHIELD. Rounded, neither bell-shaped nor tapered, covered with numerous short setae. Ventral side of anal shield with two black locking carinae, located close to laterotergites. Anterior carina small and posterior carina 3 times as long as anterior carina.
LEGS. Leg 1 with 1 ventral spine, leg 2 with 2–4, leg 3 with 3 or 4. First two leg pairs without an apical spine, spine present on leg 3. Leg pairs 4–21 with 7 or 8 ventral spines and an apical spine. On leg 9, femur 2.4 and tarsus 4.2 times as long as wide. All podomeres with setae (Fig. 11A).
Male sexual characters
GONOPORE. Covered with a single undivided, rounded, apically membranous, basally sclerotized plate, covering ¼ of surface of coxa. Gonopore located basally on joint (Fig. 11B).
ANTERIOR TELOPODS. Harp with two stridulation ribs, mesal rib smaller than lateral one, both ribs well developed, located in mesal corner (Fig. 11D). First podomere 1.1 times as wide as long. Second podomere process lobe-like and slightly curved, with rounded edges, protruding up to half of third podomere height, apically with sclerotized spots. Third podomere long, as long as first; cavity mesally with numerous sclerotized spots and three thin, sclerotized spines; one sclerotized spot located close to tip; laterally with up to 12 crenulated teeth. Podomeres 1–3 covered on both sides with numerous long, isolated hairs.
POSTERIOR TELOPODS. Movable finger with a well-rounded tip, tapering towards tip; hollowed-out inner margin without lobes but with 5 sclerotized spines, 2 located apically, 2 at midpoint and 1 basally (Fig. 11H). Posterior aspect of movable finger with ca 14 small sclerotized teeth (Fig. 11G). Movable finger slightly longer than fixed finger, the latter slender (4 times as long as wide), apically curved towards former. Fixed finger basally with a single spine, at margin with numerous sclerotized spots. First podomeres almost glabrous, movable and immovable finger covered on both sides with numerous long, isolated hairs, only tips of chela glabrous.
Female
Unknown.
Distribution and ecology
This species is currently known only from the vast lowland rainforests of the Masoala Peninsula on the east coast (Fig. 3).
Remarks
Despite several attempts, no DNA could be extracted from the male holotype. Therefore, its degree of similarity to the two much larger females known and sequenced from the Masoala area (KY399024 and KY399025) could not be assessed (see Fig. 1).
description: Published as part of Wesener, Thomas & Sagorny, Christina, 2021, Seven new giant pill-millipede species and numerous new records of the genus Zoosphaerium from Madagascar (Diplopoda, Sphaerotheriida, Arthrosphaeridae), pp. 1-48 in European Journal of Taxonomy 758 (1) on pages 30-33, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2021.758.1423, http://zenodo.org/record/5075824