Newportia pusilla Pocock, 1893

Schileyko, Arkady, Iorio, Etienne & Coulis, Mathieu, 2024, A synthesis on the scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) of Martinique, with description of Cryptops (Trigonocryptops) amicitia n. sp. and new data on some Neotropical scolopendromorphs, Zootaxa 5486 (4), pp. 563-599 : 592-593

Newportia pusilla Pocock, 1893

Locus typicus: St. Vincent Island, Lesser Antilles.

Recent material from Martinique. 1 spm, HC, Les Trois-Ilets , Morne Bigot, PF, 408 m a.s.l., lat.14,51719, long. -61,06653, leg. MC, 18.11.2018 ( CAEC, 141); 1 spm, HC, Le Prêheur, Pelée Mountain, Caldera, PF, 1155 m a.s.l., lat.14,81203, long. -61,17073, leg. MC, 16.11.2018 ( CBGP, FAUN 17345 ) ; 1 spm, HC, Macouba , morne Macouba, PF, 1031 m a.s.l., lat.14,82212, long. -61,16529, leg. MC, 30.01.2019 ( CAEC, 107); 1 spm, HC, Sainte-Luce, SF, 347 m a.s.l., lat.14,50745, long. -60,92475, leg. MC, 07. 07.02.2019 ( CAEC, 128); 1 spm, HC, Sainte-Luce, SF, 300 m a.s.l., lat.14,50842, long. -60,92316, leg. MC, 07. 07.02.2019 ( CAEC, 823); 1 spm, TE, Le Lorrain, Rivière Sylvetre, PF, 260 m a.s.l., lat.14,77525, long. -61,06527, leg. MC, 21.11.2017 ( CAEC, 179); 1 spm, TE, Schoelcher, Plateau Concorde, PF, 582 m a.s.l., lat.14,67913, long. -61,10634, leg. MC, 03.05.2016 ( CBGP, FAUN 17346 ) ; 1 spm, TE, Fond-Saint-Denis, Piton Boucher, PF, 1059 m a.s.l., lat.14,71461, long. -61,10501, leg. MC, 25.02.2018 ( CAEC, 6099); 1 spm, HC, Grand-Rivière, Pelée Moutain, morne Macouba, PF, 1068 m a.s.l., lat.14,82098, long. -61,16589, leg. ML, 17.02.2020 ( CAEC, 16247) .

Material mentioned in Schileyko et al. (2018). Chemin de l’Aileron, Morne Rouge, 13.08.2017, lat. 14.8125, long. -61.1642, 1240 m, leg. MC, 1 spm ( CAEC, 17294); Piton Boucher, Fond-Saint-Denis, summit, 21.05.2017, lat. 14.7146, long. -61.1050, 1059 m, leg. MC, 1 spm ( CBGP, FAUN 17344).

Additional material. Brazil, Amazonas State, Reserva Florestal A. Ducke, 1 ad. ( ZMMU, Rc 6704) .

Сomposite diagnosis (based on adult ZMMU Rc 6704 and literature data). Cephalic plate lacking paramedian sutures or with the short (up to 1/6–1/5 of plate’s length) ones posteriorly. Anterior margin of forcipular coxosternite straight with very shallow median diastema; chitin-lines very short but distinct. Interior surface of tarsungula with two longitudinal ridges.

Tergite 1 with semicircular anterior transverse suture and lacks well-developed paramedian ones (sometimes with their rudiments just behind semicircular suture). Sternites 3(4)-19 with shallow (sometimes nearly complete but interrupted in the middle) longitudinal sulcus; posterior margin of ultimate sternite slightly convex or straight. Legs with lateral tibial spur, the latter short and flattened (not cylindrical), nearly triangular in shape.

Coxopleuron: pores of various sizes; conical coxopleural processes very short, strongly curved outwards. Ultimate legs: prefemur, femur and tibia virtually of the same length; tarsus visibly longer than prefemur and femur taken together. Ultimate prefemur with 3 (rarely 4) very large ventral spinous processes, femur lacks processes. Tarsus comparatively thin, consisting of unusually long and quite uniform articles; tarsus 1 slightly thicker and much longer than basal article of tarsus 2, thus there is no abrupt distinction into tarsus 1 and 2. Tarsus 2 fairly variable, consisting of from 5 to 15 articles ( ZMMU Rc 6704 has 7+8 indistinct ones); some middle and/or the distal articles may not be completely separated, forming a kind of “half-articles” (see also tables 3 and 4 in Schileyko & Minelli (1999).

Ecology in Martinique. The ecology of N. pusilla is similar to that of N. longitarsis guadeloupensis , but the former differs mainly by the lower overall abundance and the distribution at higher altitudes, which reflects likely a more pronounced hygrophilia.

Range (after Schileyko et al. 2018: 571). Antilles: St. Vincent, Martinique, Cuba (?); South America: Venezuela, Brazil (Amazonas), Colombia (Andean Region).

Remarks. The latest morphological data on N. pusilla are of Ribaut (1913: 71) and Attems (1930: 274) —both of which are quite brief and lack drawings. Since issuing of Schileyko & Minelli (1999), who gave extended data on morphological variability of N. pusilla and discussed its validity, this species was mentioned in the Newportia -key of Schileyko (2013: 47) and (with no morphological details) in the phylogeographical analysis of Edgecombe et al. (2015: 73). The first record from Martinique is by Schileyko et al. (2018: 571).