Thyropygus floweri ( Demange, 1961 ) Demange, 1961

Pimvichai, Piyatida, Enghoff, Henrik & Panha, Somsak, 2009, A revision of the Thyropygus allevatus group. Part 1: the T. opinatus subgroup (Diplopoda: Spirostreptida: Harpagophoridae), Zootaxa 2016, pp. 17-50 : 30-31

Thyropygus floweri ( Demange, 1961) , n. comb.

( Figs. 7 A–D)

Cornugonus floweri Demange, 1961: 184 . Holotype (not seen) in the Natural History Museum, London.

Material: 1 male THAILAND, Yala Province, Bang Lang National Park, 6° 0 4ˏ 12˝ N, 101° 11ˏ 18˝ E. 19 October 1991. M. Andersen, O. Martin and N. Scharff leg., ( ZMUC).

Diagnosis: A species of the opinatus subgroup. Spatulate lobe (sl) at the apical part of telopodite terminating in a sharp brown spine. Similar in this respect to T. opinatus , T. implicatus and T. erectus . Differs from the first two of these species by the lateral process of anterior coxal fold (alp) being very slender and regularly curved, the two alp ’s forming a circle. Particularly similar to T. erectus , but differing from it by having the mesal process of anterior coxal fold (amp) much shorter than alp, by having the mesal process of posterior coxal fold (pmp), strongly developed along the anterior-posterior axis, and by the presence of a telopodite lobe (lo).

Description: Adult male with 62 podous rings, no apodous rings. Length ca. 12 cm, width ca. 8.0 mm. Color in life unknown; preserved specimen with prozona whitish-brown, metazona, tip of epiproct, paraprocts, and tip of hypoproct dark brown, head, antennae, middorsal metazona, legs, epiproct and hyproproct brown.

Gonopods ( Figs. 7 A–D): Anterior coxal fold (ac) ( Fig. 7 A): lateral process (alp) long, slender, regularly curved, tip close to tip of opposite alp, the two together forming a circle; mesal process (amp) much shorter than alp, straight, directed distad. Posterior coxal fold (pc) ( Fig. 7 B) with lateral paracoxites (px) digitiform; mesal process (pmp): strongly developed along anterior-posterior axis, with a large broad, somewhat hammershaped lobe (pbl) curving caudad, and an anterior slender digitiform process (adp). Telopodite ( Figs. 7 C–D) leaving coxite in front of adp; femoral spine (fe) massive, curving mesad in the horizontal plane and resting against posterior surface of ac; telopodite distally to fe with a large, round lobe (lo) projecting distolaterally; tibial spine (ti) very long, slender, curving under pbl in horizontal plane, its tip upturned and resting against anterior surface of adp; apical part: spatulate lobe (sl) with a sharp dark brown spine at tip; palette (pa) simple, distally with about ten brownish blepharochaetae (bp).

Distribution ( Fig. 20): Described from MALAYSIA, Bukit Jalor, ( Demange, 1961), based on a specimen belonging to the Natural History Museum in London. This locality was part of Malaysia in the past but now Jalor belongs to THAILAND, and the name has changed to Yala. The specimen studied by us, collected in Yala Province, Bang Lang National Park, may thus be a topotype. The species was recorded as new for the Thai fauna by Enghoff (2005) based on this specimen and for the time being should be regarded as a Thai endemic.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Thyropygus floweri, specimen from Bang Lang National Park, gonopods. A: anterior view, left telopodite removed. B: posterior view, left telopodite removed. C: left telopodite, anterior view. D: left telopodite, posterior view.