Lophodesmus, Pocock, 1894

Shelley, R. M., 2004, The milliped family Pyrgodesmidae in the continental USA, with the first record of Poratia digitata (Porat) from the Bahamas (Diplopoda: Polydesmida), Journal of Natural History 38, pp. 1159-1181 : 1176-1178

‘ Lophodesmus ’ bituberculatus Loomis

(figures 8, 12, 21)

Lophodesmus bituberculatus Loomis, 1970: 130–131 , figure 1; Hoffman, 1999: 489. Lophodesmus caraibianus: Shelley, 2001: 246–247 .

Diagnosis. Twenty segments. Preserved specimens hard and heavily sclerotized, usually dark grey in colour. Scalloped margin of collum essentially flat, not or only very slightly upturned; scallops very shallowly and equivalently separated. Paranota 2 with three lobes, remaining non-poriferous paranota with two lobes; porosteles present on segments 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 16, positioned at caudolateral corners, with one, broad, subtruncated anterior lobe (figures 8, 12).

Variation. Process ‘B’ (figure 21) is less distinct on the holotype gonopod.

Ecology. Causey (1960) was the first to report ‘ Lophodesmus ’ from Florida, which she misidentified as ‘ L. ’ caraibianus (Chamberlin) ; her record was based on material collected under a board. Notations on vial labels of material examined during this study include: ‘berlese of oak hammock litter’, and ‘deep soil extraction, hardwood forest’.

Overall distribution. Known previously only from the type locality, Cueva Pajita , Lares, Puerto Rico .

Distribution in the USA. Known only from Dade County, Florida (figure 2).

Published records. Florida: Dade Co. (Causey, 1960; Shelley, 2001; both as L. caraibianus ).

New records. Florida: Dade Co., Miami , 2 X, 17 June 1959, R. E. Woodruff ( FSCA, VMNH) ; Matheson Hammock , 2 X, 4 July 1977, R. M. Shelley ( NCSM) and W, three juvs, 9 July to 9 December 1986, S. Klimaszewski and J. Peck ( NCSM) ; South Miami, 7900 SW 176th St., Old Cutler Hammock , 5 W, XX, 15 November 1985, S. Peck ( NCSM) and juv., 26 August 1986, S. and J. Peck ( NCSM) ; and Everglades National Park, Royal Palm Hammock , two juvs, 9 December 1986, S. and J. Peck ( NCSM) . New State Record.

Remarks. In determining the identity of this species, direct comparison with the type immediately revealed that it is not ‘ L. ’ caraibianus (Chamberlin) , which is a larger-bodied species with different dorsal sculpturation. Causey (1960) did not indicate the basis for her determination of the specimens collected in 1959, and I (Shelley, 2001) repeated the record. Chamberlin (1918) did not note the sex of his two specimens of ‘ L. ’ caraibianus in the original description nor does Loomis (1934, 1936), but Hoffman (1999) reported that the one then remaining was a female. It is actually a male with the coxae present in the aperture, but the telopodites have been broken off and are lost. Loomis (1936) reported males from four sites in Haiti and briefly characterized the gonopods but did not illustrate them, and it is unknown whether this material is conspecific with the holotype, collected at Mandeville. ‘ Lophodesmus ’ is beset with formidable taxonomic problems, as detailed by Hoffman (1976, 1999), and the uncertain identity of ‘ L. ’ caraibianus should be added to these difficulties. The type species, L. pusillus Pocock , occurs in Indonesia ( Flores), and the New World species likely are not congeneric (Hoffman, 1999). I therefore place the generic name in quotation marks herein, except when citing literature accounts per se.

In checking the descriptions and illustrations of the known species of ‘ Lophodesmus ’ in the New World, I noted that Loomis’ (1970) gonopod drawing of the type of ‘ L. ’ bituberculatus shows two short, pointed projections on either side of the telopodite, suggesting the structures labelled ‘A’ and ‘B’ in figure 21 of a male from Miami. No other published drawing of a ‘ Lophodesmus ’ gonopod shows such features, but as it was drawn at low magnfication, it does not begin to show the complexity of the telopodite. I therefore compared the gonopods of a Miami male against those of the holotype to confirm the determination.

The list of specimens examined includes all the known material of ‘ L. ’ bituberculatus from the continental USA. It is noteworthy that H. F. Loomis never collected the milliped in Dade County despite living in South Miami from the 1950s until his death in 1976. The first collection was by R. E. Woodruff in 1959, then by me in 1977, and subsequently four times by Stewart and Jarmila Peck. Consequently, the introduction of ‘ L. ’ bituberculatus into south Florida seems to have occurred quite recently, and substantial populations may have developed. This exogenous, neotropical milliped may soon spread into adjoining parts of Broward and Monroe Counties.