Antheromorpha festiva ( Broelemann , 1896)

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 : 40-42

Taxon classification Animalia Polydesmida Paradoxosomatidae

Antheromorpha festiva ( Broelemann, 1896) Figs 16, 17, 18, 21

Orthomorpha festiva Brölemann, 1896: 1 (D).

Orthomorpha festiva - Attems 1898: 339 (M); 1914: 194 (D); 1930: 131 (D); Brölemann 1904: 4 (D, R).

Orthomorpha (Orthomorpha) festiva - Attems 1936: 199 (M); 1937: 60 (D).

" Orthomorpha " festiva - Jeekel 1963: 269 (M).

Antheromorpha festiva - Jeekel 1968: 57 (M); 1980: 85 (M); Golovatch 1983: 181 (M); Enghoff et al. 2004: 37 (M); Enghoff 2005: 95 (R); Nguyen and Sierwald 2013: 1234 (R).

Material examined.

3 ♂ (CUMZ), Thailand, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Mueang Nakhon Si Thammarat District, Siamthani village, 8°27'53"N, 99°58'10"E, ca 5 m a.s.l., 11.01.2009, leg. N. Likhitrakarn. 1 ♂ (CUMZ), Surat Thani Province, Phanom District, Khao Sok Evergreen House Hotel, 8°54'38"N, 98°31'48"E, leg. C. Sutcharit. 1 ♂ (CUMZ), same Province, Kanchanadit District, Khao Phanom Wang, 9°05'33"N, 99°36'18"E, ca 40 m a.s.l., 15.01.2014, leg. R. Saokord. 12 ♂, 3 ♀ (CUMZ), Satun Province, Mueang Satun District, Wat Kao Noi, 6°45'11"N, 100°01'46"E, ca 40 m a.s.l., 16.01.2014, leg. C. Sutcharit. 7 ♂, 7 ♀ (CUMZ), 2 ♂, 2 ♀ (ZMUM ρ 3058), 2 ♂, 2 ♀ (ZMUC), 2 ♂, 2 ♀ (NHMW), same District, Wat Khao Nom Phothiyan, 8°57'22"N, 98°48'20"E, ca 55 m a.s.l., 16.01.2014, leg. R. Saokord and C. Sutcharit. 4 ♂ (CUMZ), Malaysia, Johor, Sungai Bekok, 2°07'11"N, 103°02'25"E, 35 m a.s.l., 21.05.2011, leg. R. Chanabun. 1 ♂ (CUMZ), Perak, Sungai Terong, 4°38'22"N, 100°42'50"E, 30 m a.s.l., 05.06.2014, leg. R. Saokord. 8 ♂, 10 ♀ (CUMZ), 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (ZMUC), 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (NHMW), same state, Kuala Kangsar, Kampung S. Ramasamy, 4°46'55"N, 101°07'14"E, ca 120 m a.s.l., 06.06.2014, leg. R. Saokord.

Redescription.

Length 23.0-29.5 (♂) or 26.0-34.5 mm (♀), width of midbody pro- and metazonae 1.8-2.5 and 2.9-3.7 mm (♂), 2.7-3.1 and 3.6-4.4 mm (♀), respectively (vs length 28-30 mm, as given in the available descriptions ( Brölemann 1896; Attems 1937).

Coloration of live animals dark red to red-brownish, with contrasting light red to pale pinkish paraterga and epiproct; a complete inverted V-shaped line on collum, a pair of parallel oblique bands on metazonae and a pair of parallel bands on prozonae of following segments; legs and venter brownish to pale brown; coloration of alcohol material after one year of preservation faded to castaneous or pale brown; paraterga, epiproct and parallel bands faded to pale pinkish or pale yellow, legs and venter paler brown to yellowish (Fig. 16 B–J).

Clypeolabral region sparsely setose, epicranial suture distinct. Antennae short (Fig. 16A), reaching anterior edge of body segment 3 (♂) or 2 (♀) when stretched dorsally (antennomere 6 broadest). In width, head <collum <segment 2 <3 <4 <5-16, gently and gradually tapering thereafter. Collum with three transverse rows of setae: 3+3 in anterior, 1+1 in intermediate and 3+3 in posterior row, the latter mostly traceable as insertion points; caudal corner broadly rounded, slightly bordered and declined ventrally, not extending behind tergal margin (Fig. 16B, C).

Tegument smooth and shining, prozonae very finely shagreened, metazonae smooth and delicately rugulose; surface below paraterga finely microgranulate. Postcollum metaterga with two transverse rows of setae, these being always abraded and traceable as insertion points: 2+2 in anterior (pre-sulcus) row, 3+3 in posterior (post-sulcus) one. Tergal setae simple, slender, about 1/3 of metatergal length. Axial line visible both on pro- and metazonae, starting with collum. Paraterga very strongly developed (Fig. 16 A–H), subhorizontal, all lying below dorsum, set at about upper 1/3 of midbody height, anterior edge of paraterga broadly rounded, bordered and fused to callus; lateral edge of paraterga 2 with three small incisions, but on following segments smooth with only insertion points of setae (at fore 1/4), mostly abraded; caudal corner almost completely to fully pointed, always extending behind rear tergal margin, bent posteriad on segments 17 and 18; posterior edge evidently concave (Fig. 16B, D, F). Calluses delimited by a sulcus both dorsally and ventrally. Ozopores evident, lateral, lying in an ovoid groove at about 1/2 of metatergite’s length. Transverse sulcus usually distinct (Fig. 16B, D–F), complete on metaterga 5-17, incomplete on segments 4 and 18, narrow, wave-shaped, not reaching bases of paraterga, faintly beaded at bottom. Stricture between pro- and metazonae wide, deep, beaded at bottom down to base of paraterga (Fig. 16 B–F). Pleurosternal carinae complete crests only on segments 2-4, each with an evident sharp denticle caudally on segments 5-8 (♂, ♀), thereafter increasingly reduced until segment 13 (♂) or 10 (♀). Epiproct (Fig. 16 F–H) conical, flattened dorsoventrally, with two evident apical papillae, tip subtruncate; pre-apical papillae small, but visible. Hypoproct (Fig. 16G) roundly subtriangular, setiferous knobs at caudal edge well-separated.

Sterna sparsely setose, without modifications; a high paramedian pair of evident, high, nearly pointed, fully separated, setose cones between ♂ coxae 4 (Fig. 16I, J). Legs moderately long and slender, midbody ones ca 1.2-1.4 (♂) or ca 1.0-1.2 times (♀) as long as body height, prefemora without modifications, ♂ tarsal brushes present until segment 16.

Gonopods (Figs 17, 18) with femorite relatively short and rather stout, evidently curved and enlarged distad, postfemoral portion demarcated by an oblique lateral sulcus; tip of solenophore (sph) very deeply bifid, with a long, slender, nearly pointed process d; process m with an acute terminal lobule, longer than a small and terminally rounded process v.

Remarks.

The new specimens fully agree with the most detailed and beautifully illustrated redescription of the species as given by Brölemann (1904), whereas the original description ( Brölemann 1896) was indeed so concise and contained no type locality other than “Indo-Chine” that Attems (1937), obviously being unaware of Brölemann’s 1904 paper, reiterated only the very short diagnosis of Orthomorpha festiva contained in Brölemann (1896). According to Brölemann (1904), however, this species (1 ♂ and 1 ♀ syntypes, now in the Paris Museum) actually derived from “Siam”. Enghoff et al. (2004), likewise unaware of Brölemann’s (1904) detailed redescription, erroneously listed Antheromorpha festiva as coming from "southern Vietnam", but very soon after that the mistake was corrected for “Siam” ( Enghoff 2005).

The above samples thus derive from the first specified localities in Thailand. Moreover, Antheromorpha festiva appears to be not only new to the fauna of Malaysia, but it also seems to be quite widespread across the southern half of Malay Peninsula both within lowland southern Thailand and Western Malaysia, being confined there to elevations not exceeding 60 m a.s.l. (Fig. 21).