Brunsonia benewah, Shear & Richart & Wong, 2020

Shear, William A., Richart, Casey H. & Wong, Victoria L., 2020, The millipede family Conotylidae in northwestern North America, with a complete bibliography of the family (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida, Heterochordeumatidea, Conotyloidea), Zootaxa 4753 (1), pp. 1-78 : 47

Brunsonia benewah , new species

Figs. 183–189

Types: Male holotype and two male paratypes from IDAHO: Benewah Co., East Fork Charlie Creek , Idaho Panhandle National Forests , 3.25 mi S, 2.75 mi E of Emida, elev. 945 m, ca. 47.0674°N, - 116.5373°W, collected 17 September 1978, by A. L. Johnson ( FSCA) .

Diagnosis: Unlike any other Brunsonia species, B. benewah has low, minutely toothed distal processes on the prefemora, not the femora, of the sixth and seventh legpair. Otherwise it is close to the preceding species in having femoral knobs on legpairs four and five, with the one on five being large and oblong, and fairly complicated posterior gonopod coxites. See the above species for further distinctions.

Etymology: The name is a noun in apposition after Benewah County, Idaho.

Description: Male paratype: Length, 9.5 mm. Seventeen ocelli in triangular eyepatch. Metazonites with low shoulders on all trunk rings from three to 25. Color light brown, lightly marked darker purplish brown, markings more distinct anteriorly. Legpairs one and two reduced, three to seven enlarged, mesal knobs present only on femora four and five, mesal and large on both, as in B. selwayana (see above). Anterior gonopods ( Figs. 182, 183 ) with low, triangular mesobasal projections, distinct acute tooth lateral about midlength. Posterior gonopod coxites ( Fig. 184 ) complex, with a large, distally attenuate laterobasal branch; fimbriate area reduced, subtended by cuticular teeth; terminal process single, helically curved. Legpair 10 coxae of normal size, with small glands, legpair 11 femora with long, thin, dorsally directed knobs.

Females not collected.

Distribution: Known only from the type locality.

Notes: We had too little material to prepare for SEM study. This species and the one above are probably peripheral to the genus as a whole, based on the rather large and well-developed anterior gonopods, but seem to us best placed here. We are hopeful that at some time in the future, genetic evidence may clarify the relative positions of the species now placed in this complex genus.

Figures

FIGS. 173–189. Brunsonia spp. Figs. 173–179. Brunsonia chelanomagna. Fig. 173. Right anterior gonopod, lateral view. Fig. 174. Left posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Figs. 175–179. Male legs 3–7, respectively. Figs. 180, 181. Brunsonia selwayana. Fig. 180. Right anterior gonopod, posteriolateral view. Fig. 181. Left posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Figs. 182–189. Brunsonia benewah. Fig. 182. Anterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 183. Tip of left anterior gonopod, posterior view. Fig. 184. Left posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Figs. 185–189. Male legs 3–7, respectively.