Ovaskella ovaskae, 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 : 23-24

Ovaskella ovaskae , new species

Figs. 86–91

Types: Male holotype and male paratype from BRITISH COLUMBIA: SGang Gwaay, ( Anthony Island ), Haida Gwaii ( Queen Charlotte Islands ), SGang Gwaay UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Historic Site , elev. 15 m., 52.0980°N, - 131.2164°W, 15 September 2004, K. Ovaska, L. Sopuk .

Diagnosis: Distinct from the other species of the genus in bearing obvious paranota on most metazonites, and lacking femoral knobs on any pregonopodal legs. The paranotal character is shared by two other British Columbia species, Vancouvereuma shawi (Shear), 2004 and Karagama lupus (Shear), 2004 . Vancouvereuma shawi , however, has gonopods similar to Taiyutyla jonesi , and K. lupus has bifid gonopods with subequal branches; both of these species have more complicated posterior gonopod coxites than O. ovaskae .

Etymology: We name this species for Kristiina Ovaska, Victoria, British Columbia, the collector.

Description: Paratype male from SGang Gwaay: Length, 12.0 mm. 21 ocelli in triangular eyepatch. Metazonites with well-developed paranota, in place of rounded shoulders, on metazonites 6–25; two outermost segmental setae on anterior and posterior corners of paranotum. Color dark brown to chestnut brown. Legpairs one and two reduced, three to seven enlarged, mesal knobs lacking on all pregonopodal legs, but femora three to five more strongly bowed than six and seven. Anterior gonopods ( Figs. 86 , 89 ) slender, with anterior midlength knob bearing coarse teeth, apical process bifurcate with subterminal anterior lamella. Posterior gonopod coxites ( Figs. 87, 88 , 90, 91 ) with basal portion of prefemur set off by distinct groove, coxite much simplified, lacking fimbriate branches or areas. Legpair 10 coxae of normal size, with small glands, legpair 11 femora with long, thin, dorsally directed knobs.

Female 12.0 mm long, similar to male in nonsexual characters.

Distribution: Only known from the type locality.

Note: The former Queen Charlotte Islands, more than 150 mountainous islands off the west coast of British Columbia, are now known as Haida Gwaii. These islands are protected as the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve. SGang Gwaay, or Ninstints, is a village abandoned by the Haida nation in 1880 and is now recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The region may have escaped glaciation during the Wisconsinan, and hosts a remarkable array of endemic species, such that it is sometimes called the “Canadian Galápagos,” but its soil and litter fauna has been little explored.

Figures

FIGS. 86–88. Ovaskella ovaskae. Fig. 86. Anterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 87. Posterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 88. Left posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view.

FIG. 89–99. Ovaskella spp. Figs. 89–91. Ovaskella ovaskae. Fig. 89. Anterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 90. Left posterior gonopod, posterior view. Fig. 91. Left posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Figs. 92–99. Ovaskella sinuosa. Fig. 92. Right anterior gonopod, posterior view. Fig. 93. Right posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Fig. 94. Tip of right posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Figs. 95–99. Male legs 3–7, respectively.