Lamyctes africanus ( Porath, 1871 )

Enghoff, Henrik, Akkari, Nesrine & Pedersen, Jan, 2013, Aliquid novi ex Africa? Lamyctes africanus (Porath, 1871) found in Europe (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Henicopidae), Journal of Natural History 47 (31 - 32), pp. 2071-2094 : 2073-2080

Lamyctes africanus ( Porath, 1871)

( Figures 1A,B ; 2A–C,E ;, 3A,C,E,G ) Henicops Africana Porath, 1871: 1140 Lamyctes africana auct.

Type locality

South Africa (“Caffraria”). The fate of the type specimen(s) is unknown. Porath (1871) based his description on specimen(s) from Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, but they could not be located there (N. Jönsson, personal communication).

Material examined

Denmark: 13 ♀♀, Vordingborg , abandoned railway area, 55 ◦ 0.664 ′ N, 11 ◦ 53.945 ′ E, under stones, 8 November 2011, J. Pedersen leg. ( ZMUC00020539 ) . – 6 ♀♀, same locality, 15 October 2012, J. Pedersen leg. ( ZMUC 00020611 ) . – 9 ♀♀, 2 juv. asex., north-east Zealand , København, Nørrebro, abandoned railway area, 55 ◦ 35 ′ N, 12 ◦ 32.75 ′ E, 19 October 2011, N. Akkari and H. Enghoff leg ( ZMUC00103125 ) . – 40 ♀♀, 1 juv. asex., south Jutland , Padborg, abandoned railway area, 54 ◦ 49.5 ′ N, 9 ◦ 21.4 ′ E, 13 October 2011, N. Akkari, H. Enghoff, R. A. Jensen and J. Pedersen leg. ( ZMUC00020536 , 00103107 , 00103108 , 00103109 ) . – 2 ♀♀, same locality, 17 September 2011, J. Pedersen leg. ( ZMUC 000250571 ) . – 19 ♀♀, east Jutland , Fredericia, partly abandoned railway area, 55 ◦ 35 ′ N, 9 ◦ 43.5 ′ E, 13 October 2011, N. Akkari, H. Enghoff, R. A. Jensen and J. Pedersen leg. ( ZMUC00103122 ) . – 3 ♀♀, NE Zealand, København , Ryparken, near railway, 55 ◦ 43 ′ N, 12 ◦ 33.5 ′ E, 28 October 2011, N. Akkari, and H. Enghoff leg. ( ZMUC 00020534 ) . – 14 ♀♀, south Zealand , Naestved, exposed gravelly railway area, 55 ◦ 13.436 ′ N, 11 ◦ 45.920 ′ E, 30 October 2011, J. Pedersen leg. ( ZMUC 00020538 ) . – 4 ♀♀, NW Zealand, Kalundborg , harbour, exposed gravelly railway area, 55 ◦ 40.634 ′ N, 11 ◦ 6.205 ′ E, 30 October 2011, J. Pedersen leg. ( ZMUC00020537 ) . – 1 ♀, Lolland , Rødbyhavn, pitfall trap on dry, exposed gravelly soil on railway area, 54 ◦ 39.6 ′ N, 11 ◦ 22 ′ E, 29 June to 26 July 2009, J. Pedersen, P.F. Thomsen and L. Iversen leg. ( ZMUC 00020535 ) .

Australia: 1 ♀, Hambg. S.W. Austral. Exp. 1905. Station 139 Brunswick, Michaelsen leg. ( NMW 4799 ) . – 1 specimen (♀?) Hambg. S.W. Austral. Exp. 1905, Albany ( MfN). Dried out, referred with reservation to L. africanus based on the locality .

Île St Paul (Indian Ocean): 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, Jeannel leg., ( NMW 4780 ) ; 5 ♂♂, 16 ♀♀, 2 unsexable specimens, 2 juv., 24 February 1939 ( NMW 1571 ) . – 4 specimens, incl. 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Deutsche Südpolar-Expedition 1901–03 ( MfN) . Dried out, referred with reservation to L. africanus based on the locality.

See also “Re-examination of DNA vouchers” and Table 5.

Diagnosis, based on Danish specimens including comparison with original description

A species of Lamyctes with no posterior triangular projections of tergites. Antennae ( Figure 2E ) with 28–29 (– 31) articles, rarely less; forcipular coxosternite ( Figure 2A,B ) with 2 + 2 teeth, forcipular shoulders not very prominent, with spinelike porodont; 12th tibiae ( Figure 3A,C ) with triangular distal spinose projections (shorter than on preceding legs), 13th tibiae without distal spinose projections; 15th legs ( Figure 3E ) very slender; length of tibia 5.0 × diameter, length of tarsus1 6.6–8.2 × diameter, length of tarsus2 8.9–9.7 × diameter; claw ( Figure 3G ) with anterior and posterior accessory spines (accessory claws of many authors) slightly less than half as long as claw, posteroventral spine (sensory spur of many authors) long, reaching beyond middle of claw, accompanied by short subsidiary spine; female gonopods ( Figure 2C ) with 2 + 2 slender spurs, mesal spur inserted considerably more anteriorly than lateral spur: gonopodal claw simple, strongly curved.

Descriptive notes, based on Danish specimens

Living specimens bright orange brown with orange yellow antennae and legs, and conspicuous black markings around the pale eyes (similar to a “raccoon mask”) ( Figure 1A,B ). The bases of the antennae often become darker after death, and the black markings become less obvious.

Body length of females with fully developed gonopods 7–10 mm (smaller females have incompletely developed gonopods). Antennae with 28 or 29 articles in the vast majority of cases (110 out of 124 antennae), one specimen with 31 articles on one side, a few with 22–27 articles on one or both sides ( Tables 2, 3). The lower numbers may be a result of regeneration although obviously regenerated antennae were not considered. If numbers less than 28 are disregarded (being possibly the result of regeneration, cf. above), and the single antenna with 31 articles is regarded as an anomaly, there remain striking differences between the sampled populations: antennae with 29 articles predominate in Padborg, Fredericia, Vordingborg and Naestved, but are absent in Nørrebro and Kalundborg. Comparing the two largest samples, Padborg and Fredericia, the predominance of 29 articles over 28 is much more pronounced in Fredericia (the difference is highly significant, 2 × 2 chi-square text, P <0.00015).

Notes on non-Danish specimens

The Australian specimen from Brunswick is 9.5 mm long, and its one complete antenna has 27 articles. Other characters agree with Danish specimens. The locality Brunswick was not mentioned for this species by Attems (1911), but was referred to by Attems (1940).

The specimens from Île St Paul (in NMW) agree with Danish specimens in all characters, except that the average number of antennal articles is slightly lower ( Tables 2, 3).

Lamyctes africanus indoors in France?

Guillaume Jacquemin has published online several photos of a centipede identified as Lamyctes emarginatus (http://www.galerie-insecte.org/galerie/lamyctes_emarginatus. html). The centipede was found in France, Annemasse, 46 ◦ 11 ′ 59.99 ′′ N, 6 ◦ 14 ′ 59.99 ′′ E under a flowerpot in an apartment and was photographed on 27 January 2011. The specimen has 29 antennomeres, and the posterior legs (http://www.galerie-insecte.org/ galerie/ref-66072.htm) are much thinner than those of L. emarginatus ; their dimensions match those found in Danish specimens of L. africanus , and the specimen probably belongs to this species. This would be the second indoor find of L. africanus in Europe, after that reported by Barber (1992) from hothouses at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, UK.

Habitat

The Danish records of L. africanus ( Figure 4 ) are all from more or less disused railway areas. The specimens were collected in places with stony ground and sparse vegetation ( Figure 5 ). In most cases, the stony substrate was constituted by the broken stones which are usually strewn between rails and sleepers. In other cases, the substrate was multi-cusped concrete flagstones partly covered with grit and soil. Many specimens were found by pulling up rosettes of various plants, e.g. Oenothera sp. , others were found by turning over stones or even an abandoned shoe. Co-occurring centipedes in Padborg were Lamyctes emarginatus ( Newport, 1844) , Lithobius forficatus (L., 1758), Lithobius melanops Newport, 1845 , Lithobius crassipes L. Koch, 1862 , Lithobius microps Meinert, 1968 , Schendyla nemorensis (C.L. Koch, 1837) , Geophilus flavus De Geer, 1778 . Lamyctes emarginatus , Lithobius forficatus , Lithobius melanops and Lithobius microps also co-occurred with L. africanus in Nørrebro. In Fredericia, L. africanus co-occurred with Lithobius valesiacus Verhoeff, 1935 (new for Denmark!).

No reliable outdoor habitat information for L. africanus from outside Denmark is available.

Doubtful records

Whereas we are confident that the specimens described above are in fact L. africanus , we are in doubt about the identity of the following samples which have been referred to L. africanus by previous authors and were re-studied by us.

Figures

Figure 1. A live Lamyctes africanus female from Padborg, Denmark, specimen no. ZMUC00021414 (voucher for COI sequence). Notice the black markings (“raccoon mask”) around the pale eyes. S. Dupont phot.

Figure 2. Lamyctes africanus (A–C, E) and Lamyctes emarginatus (D), specimens from Denmark. Forcipules and forcipular coxosternite (A); details of forcipular coxosternite (B, D); posterior end of female (C); antenna (E). Scale bars 0.1 mm (A, C, E), 0.01 mm (B, D).

Figure 3. Lamyctes africanus (A, C, E, G) and Lamyctes emarginatus (B, D, F, H), specimens from Denmark. Right leg 12 (A, B); right tibia 12 (C, D); leg 15 (E, F), claw of leg 15 (G, H). as: accessory spines, ps: posteroventral spine; ss: subsidiary spine. Scale bars 0.1 mm (A, B, E, F), 0.01 mm (C, D, G, H).

Figure 4. Known distribution of Lamyctes africanus in Denmark. 1: Padborg, 2: Fredericia, 3: Kalundborg, 4: Naestved, 5: Vordingborg, 6: Rødbyhavn, 7: Ryparken, 8: Nørrebro.

Figure 5. Typical habitat for Lamyctes africanus in Denmark (Padborg).