Nedyopus Attems, 1914

Chen, Chao-Chun, Golovatch, Sergei I. & Chang, Hseuh-Wen, 2006, The millipede tribe Nedyopodini, with special reference to the fauna of Taiwan (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae), Journal of Natural History 39 (47), pp. 3997-4030 : 4001-4003

Genus Nedyopus Attems, 1914

Type-species: Strongylosoma cingulatum Attems, 1898 .

Vaulogerodesmus Brölemann, 1916 (type-species: Vaulogerodesmus pictus Brölemann, 1916 ), synonymized by Attems (1937).

Nesodyopus Verhoeff, 1940 (type-species: Nedyopus boninensis Verhoeff, 1940 ), n. syn.

Varyomorpha Wang, 1957 (type-species: Oxidus hsientienensis Wang, 1957 ), n. syn. Diagnosis

Usually medium-sized Paradoxosomatidae (12–48 mm long, 1.4–5.0 mm wide) with 20 body segments, a normal pore formula, modestly to poorly developed paraterga, a deep and strongly beaded stricture between pro- and metazona, short to relatively long antennae and legs, and a more or less distinct, often contrasting colour pattern. Teguments smooth to rugulose, only seldom rugose-granular in places. Tergal setae usually missing or nearly so, only rarely conspicuously dense. Pleurosternal carinae usually present, especially on segments 2–7. Male legs, especially pregonopodial ones, usually with tarsal brushes, in some species the brushes cover the distoventral parts of the tibiae. A more or less evident sternal structure between male coxae 4, ranging from a long tongue-shaped process to two small paramedian tubercles.

Gonopods with long and subcylindrical coxae, latter usually sparsely setose distoventrally. Telopodite only slightly longer than coxa; prefemoral part small, as usual densely setose and clearly delimited. Femorite elongate, strongly twisted so that seminal groove runs entirely on its lateral face, with a short, stalk-shaped basis; medial face with a more (usually) or less (seldom) strongly developed groove/excavation parabasally, demarcating a more (usually) or less (some ‘‘ Vaulogerodesmus ’’ species) prominent lobe/expansion (e); medial face of femorite with a more (usually) or less (some ‘‘ Vaulogerodesmus ’’ species) evident lobe (l) situated from about midway to distoventrally; this lobe is often irregularly shaped and denticulate, sometimes broken into two parts (l 9 and l 0) near its middle; solenomere rather short, flagelliform, usually with a more or less evident lobe (m) near base on dorsolateral side of femorite; solenophore (5tibiotarsus) complex, more or less strongly coiled, normally only vaguely demarcated at base from femorite, without a postfemoral sulcus, usually consisting of several hyaline lobes (up to four: A, B, C and D) nearly completely sheathing and supporting the solenomere, lobe B normally the largest and recognizable due to longitudinal ribs/rugulosity.

Remarks

The synonymy of Vaulgerodesmus is supported by the fact that several of the species studied here show a modestly enlarged gonofemorite, combined with various degrees of development of the demarcation sulcus between the femorite and the solenophore. Until recently, Vaulogerodesmus was believed to be confined to Indochina and the adjacent parts of China, comprising species with a relatively poorly grooved and modestly expanded gonopod femorite, as opposed to the particularly deeply grooved and dorsolaterally strongly expanded one observed in the Nedyopus species or subspecies from Japan and Korea. The vast geographical gap in between (i.e. central and northeastern China, as well as Taiwan) also seemed to support the separation of these two genera. However, Golovatch et al. (2003) suggested that if transitional forms were found as a result of progress in the knowledge of Nedyopodini , both Nedyopus and Vaulogerodesmus would have to be merged. The new material from Taiwan allows us to confirm that this is the case.

The synonymy of Nesodyopus stems from the very unreliable diagnosis of this subgenus originally given by Verhoeff (1940). In contrast to other Nedyopus , N. boninensis shows a considerably narrower e, a non-demarcated gonopostfemoral portion and a simple solenophore, consisting of only two lobes. This condition is strikingly similar to that observed in typical Vaulogerodesmus species. Although both Jeekel (1968) and Hoffman (1980) assigned full generic status to Nesodyopus , they emphasized that this was only provisional. Moreover, both Takakuwa (1954) and Miyosi (1959) treated N. boninensis as a typical Nedyopus , omitting Nesodyopus altogether as a genus-level taxon.

The synonymy of Varyomorpha could only be established with fresh topotypic material to hand. Because the types of Wang’s species V. hsientienensis and V. pectinata are lost, it appears necessary to designate neotypes from among the available near-topotypes in order to stabilize the nomenclature and fix these names.

Like Jeekel (1968), we refrain from using the terms ‘‘ lamina lateralis ’’ and ‘‘ lamina medialis ’’ to designate certain parts of the solenophore in describing the gonopod conformation of Nedyopodini . Firstly, the solenophore of Nedyopus is usually a highly complex structure, consisting of several (two to four) lobes. Secondly, the remarkably twisted gonofemorite, coupled with a no less strongly coiled solenophore, not only makes homologization difficult, but also renders the above positional terminology pointless. We entirely agree with Hoffman (1973) that, fundamentally, the solenophore in Nedyopus shows both the laminae well developed, but the correspondence between them remains unclear.

Below we provide descriptions of all five Nedyopus species that are securely documented in the fauna of Taiwan and give a key for their separation. Wang’s (1955) record of N. patrioticus , like most others by this author, is regarded too dubious to be considered seriously.