Cyphobrachyiulus Grusiniulus Lohmander, 1936

Vagalinski, Boyan & Golovatch, Sergei I., 2021, The millipede tribe Brachyiulini in the Caucasus (Diplopoda, Julida, Julidae), ZooKeys 1058, pp. 1-127 : 1

Subgenus Cyphobrachyiulus Grusiniulus Lohmander, 1936 stat. nov.

Updated diagnosis.

A subgenus of the genus Cyphobrachyiulus differing from other subgenera by the following combination of characters: promere significantly shorter than opisthomere; opisthomere possessing an apicoposterior process and lacking a lateral process or lobe; male coxae 2 not enlarged.

Comment.

Apart from the unusually short promere, the gonopods and vulva in Grusiniulus match the diagnosis of the genus Cyphobrachyiulus . Consequently, the former taxon is downgraded to a subgenus of the latter genus. Examination of the gonopods of the sole species, Cyphobrachyiulus (Grusiniulus) redikorzevi (Lohmander, 1936), shows that the opisthomeral 'horizontally protruding protecting branch directed mesocaudad’ [translated from Lohmander (1936)] is not part of the solenomere, as interpreted by Vagalinski and Lazányi (2018), but is homologous to the apicoposterior process present in some species of Cyphobrachyiulus . Grusiniulus is particularly similar to the subgenus Grusiniulus Diaxylus in having a short thumb-like apicoposterior process of the opisthomere that protrudes perpendicularly to CBO, and a subquadrangular promere (i.e. with a broad rather than tapering apex, and with mostly parallel mesal and lateral margins). However, the very short promere in C. (G.) redikorzevi seems to provide sufficiently solid grounds for keeping the name Grusiniulus in use.