Antheromorpha rosea Golovatch, 2013

Likhitrakarn, Natdanai, Golovatch, Sergei I. & Panha, Somsak, 2016, Review of the Southeast Asian millipede genus Antheromorpha Jeekel, 1968 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae), ZooKeys 571, pp. 21-57 : 35-40

Taxon classification Animalia Polydesmida Paradoxosomatidae

Antheromorpha rosea Golovatch, 2013 Figs 13, 14, 15, 21

Antheromorpha rosea Golovatch, 2013a: 23 (D).

Antheromorpha rosea - Golovatch 2013b: 308 (D); Nguyen and Sierwald 2013: 1235 (M).

Material examined.

5 ♂, 9 ♀ (CUMZ), 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (ZMUM ρ 3057), 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (ZMUC), 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (NHMW), Thailand, Chiang Mai Province, Mae Rim District, Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden, 18°53'47"N, 98°51'35"E, ca 640 m a.s.l., 25.09.2014, leg. N. Likhitrakrn. 2 ♂, 30 ♀ (CUMZ), same District, Pong Yang, Ban Muang Kham, 18°53'41"E, 98°49'31.59"E, ca 840 m a.s.l., 20.10.2014, leg. R. Saokord. 1 ♂ (CUMZ), same Province, Hang Dong District, Kaewtachang Waterfall, 18°48'15"E, 98°49'47"E, ca 590 m a.s.l., 24.10.2009, leg. N. Likhitrakarn. 1 ♂ (CUMZ), same Province, Chiang Dao District, Wat Tam Pha Plong, 19°24'13"E, 98°55'16"E, 470 m a.s.l., 28.09.2010, leg. N. Likhitrakarn. 1 ♂ (CUMZ), same Province, Mae Taeng District, Cave Buathong, 19° 4'31.06"N, 99° 5'9.45"E, ca 530 m a.s.l., 22.11.2012, leg. N. Likhitrakarn.

Descriptive notes.

Length 33.5-38.0 (♂) or 34.0-44.5 mm (♀), width of midbody pro- and metazonae 2.6-3.5 and 4.4-5.0 mm (♂), 3.2-4.2 and 4.9-5.8 mm (♀), respectively.

Coloration of live animals pinkish (Fig. 13A), with an anterior black band on metaterga and collum; head and antennae blackish, legs dark to light brown; coloration in alcohol, after six months of preservation, faded to light pinkish to pale yellowish (Fig. 13 B–H), with a dark brown to blackish brown band on anterior metaterga and collum; head and antennae blackish to light brown, legs light brown to pale yellowish.

Antennae long (Fig. 13A, C), extending behind metaterga 3 when stretched dorsally (♂, ♀). In width, head <segment 3 = 4 <collum <segment 2 <5-17 (♂, ♀), gently and gradually tapering thereafter (Fig. 13B). Paraterga very strongly developed (Fig. 13 B–H), mostly slightly upturned, all lying below dorsum, set at about upper 1/3 of midbody height, caudal corner almost to fully pointed, increasingly acutangular, from narrowly rounded to nearly pointed, especially strongly so in segment 15, thereafter slightly curved mesad (Fig. 13B, D, F). Pleurosternal carinae complete crests with a sharp caudal tooth in segment 2, likewise a sharp caudal tooth in segments 3 and 4, a small, mostly sharp tooth until segment 16 (♂, ♀) (Fig. 13C, E). Sterna delicately and sparsely setose, without modifications, but with a pair of small, rounded, fully separated cones between ♂ coxae 4 (Fig. 13I, J).

Remarks.

The available descriptions ( Golovatch 2013a, 2013b) of this species were sufficiently detailed to necessitate only a few notes on variation and some new illustrations (Figs 13-15) to show coloration, certain structural details and the gonopod conformation based on new material. This species was described from the ♂ holotype (kept in Senckenberg Museum Frankfurt, Germany) from Gaoligong Shan Moutains, south of Pianma, 25°58'N, 98°40'E, 1600-1700 m a.s.l., Yunnan Province, China ( Golovatch 2013a), a little later reported (1 ♂, 1 ♀, deposited in the National Natural History Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria) nearly from the same place ( Golovatch 2013b). Even though both these Yunnan localities (Fig. 21) lie far away (ca 730 air-km) from the new Thai records, even despite minor variations, the species identity is beyond doubt.

At least in Thailand, adult Antheromorpha rosea have been found to occur every year only for one or two weeks in September or October, disappearing thereafter.