Eviulisoma breviscutum, Enghoff, 2018

Enghoff, Henrik, 2018, A mountain of millipedes VII: The genus Eviulisoma Silvestri, 1910, in the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania, and related species from other Eastern Arc Mountains. With notes on Eoseviulisoma Brolemann, 1920, and Suohelisoma Hoffman, 1963 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 445, pp. 1-90 : 74-76

Eviulisoma breviscutum sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D7C4195B-37DF-4B02-BD3B-4447DBCBB23C

Fig. 36

Diagnosis

Differs from other Udzungwan species of Eviulisoma by the combination of unmodified sterna 5 and 6 and a very short map (ca half as long as solenophore).

Etymology

The name is a noun in apposition meaning ʻshort shieldʼ and refers to the short, shield-like mesal acropodital process.

Material (total: 3 ♂♂)

Holotype

TANZANIA: ♂, Mwanihana Forest, above Sanje , 1650 m a.s.l., pitfall trap, 18 Aug. 1982, M. Stoltze and N. Scharff leg. (ZMUC).

Paratypes

TANZANIA: 1 ♂, Morogoro Region, Kilombero District, Udzungwa Mts National Park, forest below Mwanihana Peak , 7°49′ S, 36°50′ E, 1800 m a.s.l., sifted from leaf litter, 20 Aug. 2017, T. Pape leg. ( ZMUC); 1 ♂, Morogoro Region, Udzungwa Mts National Park, Mito Mitatu, above Mang’ula , 07°49′3″ S, 36°52′58″ E, 1487 m a.s.l., 16 Dec. 2016, T. Pape and N. Scharff leg. (ZMUC).

Description (male)

SIZE. Length 14–15 mm, max. width 1.5–1.6 mm.

COLOUR. After 3 months in alcohol dorsally dark brown to blackish brown, vertex and metazonites medium brown, rest of head, antennae and legs pale yellowish.

ANTENNAE. Reaching back to middle of ring 3.

BODY RINGS. Ring 2 with barely perceptible keels representing paranota (as in Fig. 4C ). Stricture between pro- and metazonite striolate. No setae seen on body rings.

HYPOPROCT. Triangular, with a distinct median tubercle.

LEGS. Length 0.8–0.9× body width. Relative lengths of podomeres: femur> prefemur> tarsus> tibia = postfemur. Scopulae not prominent, on anterior legs on (postfemur), tibia and tarsus, disappearing on more posterior legs.

STERNUM 5 ( Fig. 36E ). Unmodified, no process.

STERNUM 6 ( Fig. 36E ). Not excavated, coxae 6–7 more separated than on normal body rings.

GONOPODS ( Fig. 36 A –D ). Coxal lobe (cxl) small. Prefemoral part (prf) slightly more than half as long as acropodite. Mesal acropodital process (map) short, shield-like, apically smoothly rounded. No intermediate acropodital process. Solenophore (sph) large, ca twice as long as map, apically divided into a finger-shaped dorsal lobe (sph-d) and a more massive ventral lobe (sph-v), ventral lobe in turn divided into a pointed erect branch and a rounded ʻheadʼ set off from main axis by right angles.

Distribution and habitat

Known from two places in the Udzungwa Mountains National Park forest. Altitudinal range 1487–1800 m a.s.l. Collected together with E. coxale sp. nov. in Mwanihana Forest.

Remarks

The gonopods of this species bear some resemblance to those of E. somaliense Ceuca, 1971 , sharing a short, shield-like mesal acropodital process (“ramo laterale” of Ceuca 1971) and an apically bifurcate solenomere (“ramo seminale” of Ceuca 1971). However, E. somaliense also has a large lobe (“placa allungata”) between map and sph, and it has a lobe on sternum 5 as well as an excavated sternum 6. The shapes of map and slm are also reminiscent of those of E. julinum , the type species of Eoseviulisoma , and with this species E. breviscutum sp. nov. also shares the lack of a sternum 6 excavation and a sternum 5 lobe. However, in E. julinum the prefemoral part of the gonopod is very much larger than in E. breviscutum sp. nov.

Figures

Fig. 4. Eviulisoma spp. A–B. E. paradisiacum sp. nov., ♂. A. Head and rings 1–8, lateral view. B. Head and collum, frontal view. C. E. Zebra sp. nov., ♂, head and rings 1–3, lateral view. Abbreviation: pn = paranotum. Scale bars: 0.2 mm.

Fig. 36. Eviulisoma breviscutum sp. nov., paratype from forest below Mwanihana Peak. A–D. Right gonopod. A. Mesal view. B. Lateral view. C. Ventral view. D. Dorsal view. E. Body rings 5 and 6, showing unmodified sterna. Abbreviations cxl = coxal lobe; map = mesal acropodital process; prf = prefemoral part; slm = solenomere; sph-d, sph-v = dorsal and ventral lobes of solenophore; st5, st6 = sterna 5 and 6. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.