Notogallanus, Enghoff, 2022

Enghoff, Henrik, 2022, Mountains of millipedes. The family Odontopygidae in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida), European Journal of Taxonomy 803, pp. 1-136 : 73

Genus Notogallanus gen. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5A64E853-E182-4B15-8D6F-E8B5D72479DC

Type species

Notogallanus mastacembalus gen. et sp. nov.

Other included species

None.

Diagnosis

Differs from other genera of Prionopetalini by the combination of a very elongated, slender telomere and a long, thin, unilaterally microserrate solenomere.

Etymology

The genus name (gender masculine) is an anagram of Allantogonus , referring to the similarities (telomere almost as slender as solenomere) with this genus.

Remarks

In the vial containing the holotype of the type species of Notogallanus gen. nov., Richard Hoffman had placed a label saying “really bizarre new genus”, a statement with which it is difficult to disagree. In the key to genera of “ Odontopyginae ” of Kraus (1966), Notogallanus mastacembalus gen. et sp. nov. runs all the way to Odontopyge , although underways the similarities with Allantogonus (couplet 4, telomere roughly same shape as telomere) and Prionopetalum (couplet 22, distal part of telomere very slender) may cause confusion. A very long, thin telomere is also present in Multipronopea agneteae gen. et sp. nov. In the latter, however, the solenomere is smooth and has a huge basal spine, while the telomere is coarsely dentate, whereas in Notogallanus mastacembalus gen. et sp. nov., the solenomere is microserrate and has no basal spine, while the telomere is almost smooth. The microserrate solenomere seems to be a unique feature of this genus. There are other odontopygids in which the solenomere has a more or less sawlike row of denticles, but these are then much larger and/or not placed on the margin of the solenomere, see, e.g., Attems (1935: fig. 91), Kraus (1960: fig. 220) and Frederiksen & Enghoff (2015: figs 2b, 3c) for Rhanphidarpoides spp., or Kraus (1958a: figs 111, 115) for Rhamphidarpella flagellosa Kraus, 1958 and Rhamphidarpe occidentalis Kraus, 1958 .