Arrup doii ( Takakuwa, 1940 )

Published, First, 2007, The Mecistocephalidae of the Japanese and Taiwanese islands (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha), Zootaxa 1396, pp. 1-84 : 71

Arrup doii ( Takakuwa, 1940)

This species was described from ‘Keizyo’ [= Seoul], Korea, and then recorded from Honshu by Chamberlin & Wang (1952) and Shinohara (1957) and from Taiwan by Wang (1959).

The original description provided by Takakuwa (1940) is inadequate, as the diagnosis of this species was mainly based on the "hairy" surface of the mandibles. However, small scale­like or digitiform cuticular processes (similar to dense hair) on the ventral side of mandibles is a common feature among several mecistocephalids and is probably widely distributed in other centipedes. Presently, it is not possible to assess whether A. doii is actually a distinct species, as no other clearly distinctive character emerges from the original description.

In any case, records from Japan and Taiwan are unwarranted, as they were based most probably on the presence of ‘hairy’ mandibles.