Plusioglyphiulus phra, Golovatch & Geoffroy & Mauriès & Vandenspiegel, 2011

Golovatch, Sergei I., Geoffroy, Jean-Jacques, Mauriès, Jean-Paul & Vandenspiegel, Didier, 2011, The millipede genus Plusioglyphiulus Silvestri, 1923 in Thailand (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida, Cambalopsidae) 2940, Zootaxa 2940 (1), pp. 1-63 : 36-37

Plusioglyphiulus phra sp. n. Figs 32−35 .

Material examined: Holotype male ( MNHN GA 069 ), Thailand, Huai Hin Prov. , Ban Hua Lap Distr., Cave Tham Mai Lap Lae, hand collection, 28 July 1987, leg. P. Leclerc (THA-HH-04) . Paratypes: 1 male ( MNHN GA 069 ) , 1 male ( SEM), same locality, together with holotype .

Name: To emphasize “phra”, in Thai a honorific prefix meaning anything associated with royalty, religion, mythology or celestial objects, here a noun in apposition.

Diagnosis: Differs from congeners in the oligotrichous gnathochilarium, coupled with the particular carinotaxy patterns, and the special shapes and armature of both gonopod pairs (see also Key below).

Description: Length 26–28 mm, width 1.1–1.2 mm, collum and segments in posterior third of body being equally broadest. Coloration grey-yellow, in places mottled marbled (red-) brown; head, antennae (except for antennomeres 5 and 6), collum, venter and legs light yellowish; metatergal crests and, especially, poriferous tubercles usually infuscate, dark brown.

Body with 57–58p+3–1a+T. Length of holotype about 26 mm, width 1.1 mm, with 57p+3a+T.

All characters as in P. panhai sp. n. ( Figs 32E, F , 33B, C, F , 35A, E ), except as follows. Ocellaria small, brownish, obviously partly faded towards peripheries, ovoid in shape, with about 12–14 visible ocelli arranged in 4–5 longitudinal rows. Gnathochilarium ( Fig. 35B ) rather oligotrichous, with a separate promentum (n=2).

Postcollum constriction very evident, due to especially enlarged collum and segment 2 ( Figs 32A, D ). Carinotaxy formula of collum: //(t)+/(t)/+1p/t+2p/t+(t)/(t)/(t)+3p/(t)/t+pp/t/t+/ma/m ( Figs 32A, D , 33D ). Carinotaxy of metaterga 2–4, 7/7+m/m+7/7; usual formula of all following metaterga until about caudal third of body, 3/3+I/i+3/ 3/3+m/m/m, thereafter, 4/4+I/i+3/3/3+m/m/m ( Figs 32A–C , 33E ); all crests and tubercles, including poriferous cones, rather low. Midbody segments ovoid in cross-section, slightly compressed laterally ( Fig. 33E ).

Male legs 1 ( Fig. 35C ) with a usual strong central hook curved forward, appendages larger, sac-shaped, with a few setae mesally near base, 1-segmented. Male legs 2 strongly enlarged ( Figs 33A , 35D ).

Anterior gonopods rather complex, with a paramedian pair of anterior coxosternal processes (cxp1), relatively high, rather slender, largely contiguous, slightly curved, setose apically and carrying a subterminal tooth on front face; caudal pair of coxosternal processes (cxp2) higher, twisted and pointed; telopodites (te) club-shaped, setose apically, considerably shorter than cxp2, attached to coxal region caudolaterally, probably capable of movement ( Figs 34A–D , 35F ). Posterior gonopods considerably shorter, rather simple, coxites well separated from sternum, fused only basally, sac-shaped, membranous, each surmounted on frontal face by an evident fovea devoid of nearby flagella, but supplied with a small tooth medio-apically; telopodites missing ( Figs 34E, F , 35G ).

Figures

FIGURE 32. Plusioglyphiulus phra sp. n., male paratype. A: anterior part of body, lateral view. B: midbody segments, lateral view. C: posterior part of body, lateral view. D: anterior part of body, dorsal view. E: midbody segments, dorsal view. F: posterior part of body, dorsal view. Scale bars: A, B and D, 0.5 mm; C, E and F, 0.2 mm.

FIGURE 33. Plusioglyphiulus phra sp. n., male paratype. A: anterior part of body, ventral view. B: midbody segments, ventral view. C: posterior part of body, ventral view. D: collum, dorsal view. E: cross-section of a midbody segment, caudal view. F: midbody leg, lateral view. Scale bars: A–E, 0.2 mm; F, 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 34. Plusioglyphiulus phra sp. n., male paratype. A: anterior gonopods, front view. B: same, ventral view. C: same, ventrolateral view. D: same, ventrocaudal view. E: posterior gonopods, ventrofront view. F: same, front view. Scale bars: A, C and F, 0.1 mm; B, D and E, 0.05 mm.

FIGURE 35. Plusioglyphiulus phra sp. n., male paratype. A: antenna, lateral view. B: gnathochilarium, ventral view. C: leg 1, caudal view. D: leg 2, caudal view. E: midbody leg, lateral view. F: anterior gonopods, frontolateral view. G: posterior gonopods, caudolateral view. te: telopodite; cxp1: anterior coxosternal process; cxp2: posterior coxosternal process. Scale bar: A–E, 0.4 mm; F and G, 0.2 mm.