Pachybolus tectus Cook, 1897

Enghoff, Henrik, 2011, East African giant millipedes of the tribe Pachybolini (Diplopoda, Spirobolida, Pachybolidae), Zootaxa 2753, pp. 1-41 : 30

Pachybolus tectus Cook, 1897

Figs 58–65 , 84

Material examined: none, and none is known to exist. Cook (1899) gave the type repository as “Hamburg Museum” from where the specimen, however, is missing ( Weidner 1960). All we have therefore is Cook’s original description and illustrations (reproduced here as Figs 58–65 ). According to Cook, the P. tectus male is ca. 150 mm long, ca. 15 mm in diameter and has 55 ‘segments’ (which presumably means a body ring formula 54+0+T). The anterior gonopods ( Figs 61–63 ) have a tall sternal projection, the coxites seem to be smoothly rounded, the telopodites overlap but have no distinct mesal process; distally they are narrowed and form a rounded process somewhat similar to that seen in Hyperbolus species. The posterior gonopod ( Figs 64–65 ) seems to have a basal laminate process and is otherwise quite slender, without distinct processes, lamellae etc. The female is unknown.

Distribution. Only known from Zanzibar ( Fig. 84 )

Figures

FIGURE 84. Known distribution of East African Pachybolini, except Hadrobolus crassicollis and Epibolus pulchripes. dots (●): Crurifarcimen vagans, filled diamonds (♦): Hyperbolus apicomplexus, open diamonds (♢): Hyperbolus morogoroensis, filled triangle (˔): Parabolus dimorphus, inverted open triangle (): Parabolus calceus, inverted filled triangle (ˑ): Pachybolus tectus,, filled square (․): Pachybolini indet. Based on Yahoo maps.

FIGURES 58 – 72. Plate LII from Cook (1899), relabelled. 58 – 65. Pachybolus tectus. 58: head and first six body rings, lateral view, 59: telson: lateral view, 60: male leg, 61: gonopods, anterior view, 62: do: posterior view, 63: do: lateral view, 64: posterior gonopod, posterior-lateral view, 65: do., anterior-mesal view. 66 – 72. Hadrobolus crassicollis. 66: gonopods, anterior view, 67: do., posterior view, 68: do., lateral view, 69: posterior gonopods, anterior-lateral view, 70: do., posterior-mesal view, 71: male leg, 72: first six body rings.