Eupolybothrus kahfi Stoev & Akkari

Stoev, Pavel, Akkari, Nesrine, Zapparoli, Marzio, Porco, David, Enghoff, Henrik, Edgecombe, Gregory D., Georgiev, Teodor & Penev, Lyubomir, 2010, The centipede genus Eupolybothrus Verhoeff, 1907 (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae) in North Africa, a cybertaxonomic revision, with a key to all species in the genus and the first use of DNA barcoding for the group, ZooKeys 50, pp. 29-77 : 44-47

Eupolybothrus kahfi Stoev & Akkari sp. n. Figs 3-4

Type material.

Holotype: adult ♂, North Tunisia, Zaghouan Governorate, Jebel Zaghouan, Gouffre (chasm) Sidi Bou Gabrine, 36°22.423'N, 10°06.328'E, alt. 642 m, under clay lump, 17.III.2008, P. Stoev leg. (NMNHS). Other material: 1 juv., same locality, date and collector, collected creeping on the wall at the endmost hall (NMNHS).

Diagnosis.

A species of Eupolybothrus with long antennae, approx. 90% length of body, composed of 68 articles; eyes composed of 18 ocelli; colour uniformly yellow-whitish; anterior margin of forcipular coxosternite with 7+7 teeth; TT 9, 11, 13 with posterior triangular projections; leg 15 56-57% length of body, with a single claw on pretarsus; prefemur of leg 15 with a long, conical dorso-median protuberance emerging from its posterior part and pointing posterior-dorsad; coxal pores generally large, round to ovoid; around 15-20 on legs 12 and 13 and about 20-24 on legs 14 and 15; posterior margin of male first genital sternite straight.

Description.

Holotype: Length (from anterior margin of cephalic plate to posterior margin of telson) approx. 30 mm; cephalic plate slightly broader than long (Fig. 3a); head 2.7 mm long, 3 mm wide; leg 15 aprox. 17 mm long, or 56-57% length of body. Colour generally uniformly yellow-whitish; only forcipular coxosternal teeth, posterior half of forcipular tarsungulum brown; anterior 1/3 of cephalic plate slightly darker yellowish; interrupted black line stretches along the midline of body and can be traced on all but last tergite.

Cephalic plate smooth, wider than T1 (Fig. 3a); a median notch contributing to biconvex anterior margin; marginal ridge with a distinct median thickening occupying almost 50% breadth of plate; posterior margin straight or slightly convex; central part of cephalic plate concave; transverse suture situated at about 1/3 of anterior edge; posterior limbs of transverse suture visible, connecting basal antennal article with anterior part of ocellar area; setae on cephalic plate very few, dispersed, without regular arrangement. Ocelli: 1+3,4,5,5; seriate ocelli greyish, oval to elliptical, in 4 rows: first seriate ocellus of the exteriormost row largest, ocelli of the middle two rows medium-sized, those of inferior row smallest; posterior ocellus as large as the first seriate ocellus. Tömösváry’s organ small, circular, situated on subtriangular sclerotisation immediately below the inferiormost row of seriate ocelli (Fig. 3b).

Left antenna long, approx. 27 mm, reaching or slightly surpassing posterior margin of T12 when folded backwards; 90% length of body, composed of 68 articles; right antenna damaged, composed of at least 34 articles; basal two articles enlarged (Fig. 3a), most articles longer than broad; last 12 articles more elongated than others; ultimate article about same length as penultimate (Fig. 3c). Basal two articles less setose than others, which are densely covered with trichoid setae.

Clypeus with a cluster of about 30-33 long to medium-sized setae situated at apex and near the lateral margin (Fig. 3d).

Forcipule (Fig. 3e): coxosternite subhexagonal, lateral margins feebly convex; anterior margin set off as a rim by furrow that is impressed behind all teeth; coxosternal teeth 7+7, inner tooth smaller than others, its apex well posterior to outer tooth; median diastema small, strongly narrowed by the inner teeth; intradental distance varying, generally increasing towards lateral teeth; porodont arising from a small node below the dental rim, situated posteriad to teeth and well laterad to lateralmost tooth; base of porodont as thick as adjacent tooth or slightly thinner; coxosternite densely setose anteriorly; setae generally long, in approximately 7-8 irregular rows; another row of long setae visible behind anterior margin. Forcipular trochanteroprefemur medially concave with a small subtriangular outgrowth emerging at its posterior part; distal part of tarsungulum about six times longer than proximal part, devoid of setae; forcipular prefemur, femur and tibia fringed with a row of setae (sparse and irregular on the posterior half of prefemoral part).

Tergites (Fig. 3f) generally wrinkled (less so on smaller tergites); TT 9, 11, 13 with well-developed posterior triangular projections, less so on T9; posterior margination lacking on all tergites, poorly visible on last two tergites and on the posterior angles of T1; T1 subtrapeziform, wider than T3, posterior margin transverse. Posterior margin of TT 8, 10, 12, 14 gently concave; posterior angles of TT 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 rounded; those of TT 6, 7, 8 right-angled; pointed on TT 10, 12, and less so also on T14; all tergites covered with sparse, thin but generally long setae, which increase in number towards posterior segments; posterior half of intermediate tergite covered with denser field of such setae.

Sternites smooth, subtrapeziform, with few sparse setae, mainly at lateral margins. Posterior margins straight, slightly convex only on sternites 1 and 15 (Fig. 3g).

Legs: all legs generally elongated (Fig. 3h); legs 14 and 15 much longer than 1-12; leg 13 only slightly longer; leg 15 longest of all; maximal length of podomeres: coxa 1.3 mm, prefemur 3.2 mm, femur 3.2 mm, tibia 3.8 mm, tarsus 1 4.2 mm, tarsus 2 2.3 mm, pretarsus 0.4 mm. Tarsus 1 and tarsus 2 of legs 1-14 with two rows of ventral setae (Fig. 4a). Pretarsus of legs 1-14 with a large principal claw and smaller and thinner accessory claw emerging dorso-laterally; accessory claw half length of the principal claw. Pretarsus of leg 15 with a single claw (Fig. 4b). Leg 15 with secondary sexual modifications: prefemur with a long conical dorso-median protuberance emerging from its posterior part and pointing posterio-dorsad (Fig. 4c), its tip surmounted with a tuft of setae. Leg 14 without particular modifications.

Spinulation: as in Table 5.

Coxal pores: generally large, round to ovoid; 15-20 on legs 12-13 and about 20-24 on legs 14 and 15; pores separated by less than their own diameter, forming 3-4 irregular rows (Fig. 4d).

Male first genital sternite subquadrate (Fig. 4d), fringed with numerous long setae sparsely covering its whole surface, posterior margin not emarginated; gonopod small, hidden behind the edge of first genital sternite, with 8-10 long setae.

Juvenile: pale yellow-whitish, with 15 leg-pairs, most detached; antennae long, approx. 90% of body length, composed of 36-37 articles; ultimate article almost 2.5 times length of penultimate; 5 ocelli; forcipular coxosternite with 5+5 teeth, median diastema shallow, V-shaped; TT 9, 11, 13 with posterior triangular projections; coxal pores: 2,1,1,1.

Origin of name.

derives from the Arabic word kahf (ﻒﮫﮐ) meaning ‘cave’, and kahfi denotes 'living in cave’.

Habitat.

Eupolybothrus kahfi occurs in a chasm of approximately 30 m depth which after descending continues as a narrow horizontal gallery ending in a small hall. The total length of the cave is approximately 50 m. There are just a few humid spots on the floor, with almost no organic substance. The juvenile specimen was collected creeping on the wall at the end hall, while the adult was found under a lump of clay, approximately one meter below the place of descent. In the cave Eupolybothrus kahfi co-occurs with troglomorphic isopods, spiders of the genus Meta C.L. Koch, 1836, pseudoscorpions of the genus Roncus L. Koch, 1873, harvestmen, troglobitic diplurans, trichopterans and gastropods.