Coloradesmus aquiliensis (Shear, 1984) Shear, 1984

Shear, William A. & Steinmann, David B., 2019, Cave millipedes of the United States. XV. Coloradesmus gen. nov. (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Macrosternodesmidae), and four new species from caves in Colorado, USA, Subterranean Biology 32, pp. 15-32 : 21

Coloradesmus aquiliensis (Shear, 1984) comb. nov. Figs 1-6 , 7-8

Speodesmus aquiliensis Shear, 1984, p. 96.

Types.

Male holotype (American Museum of Natural History) from Fulford Cave, 21 mi SE of Eagle, Eagle Co.: Colorado, collected 6 July 1980 by J. R. Holsinger et al.

Diagnosis.

A larger species of Coloradesmus distinguished by details of the gonopods; in Coloradesmus hopkinsae the prefemoral process is much broader and has a laterodistal tooth. Coloradesmus manitou differs from C. aquiliensis in the endomerite, which in manitou emerges from the acropodite at nearly a right angle, then turns sharply distad. Coloradesmus beckleyi and C. warneri are only half the length of the other three known species of the genus.

Corrections to original description.

With the characters of the genus. Lengths of a series of specimens from Fulford Cave, the type locality, varied from 4.5-6.2 mm, the longer specimens strongly extended. Setae on collum, metazonites and telson long, acute. In the description of the gonopods, the prefemoral process is erroneously described as bifid and the endomerite is shown in the drawings as attached to the prefemoral process, giving that impression.

Records.

COLORADO: Eagle Co.: Fulford Cave, 10,000' asl, organic matter in packrat midden, 39°29'N, 106°33'W, 22 June 1999, 7 males, 13 females (topotypes); Devil’s Den Cave, 11,500' (3506 m) asl, 35°F, under stones and logs in dark zone, 39°30'N, 106°37'W, 25 August 1999, 18 males, 7 females, juveniles; Herbie’s Deli Cave, 9200' asl, under rocks in dark zone, 40°01'N, 105°40'W, 31 August 2003, mf; 15 August 2007, 2 males; Lime Creek Cave, 9200' (2804 m) asl, 40°00'N, 105°40'W, 5 September 2001, 2 males.

Figures

Figures 1 - 6. Coloradesmus aquiliensis male. 1 Collum, dorsal view 2 midbody ring, dorsal view 3 telson, dorsal view 4 right leg 7, posterior view 5 gonopods, ventral view 6 gonopods, posterior view. See text for explanation of labels.

Figures 7 - 10. Coloradesmus species males. 7 C. aquiliensis gonopods, anterior view 8 C. aquiliensis gonopods, lateral view 9 C. hopkinae collum, dorsal view 10 C. hopkinae midbody ring, dorsal view. See text for explanation of labels.