Thyropygus bispinus, Pimvichai, Piyatida, Enghoff, Henrik & Panha, Somsak, 2009

Pimvichai, Piyatida, Enghoff, Henrik & Panha, Somsak, 2009, A revision of the Thyropygus allevatus group. Part 1: the T. opinatus subgroup (Diplopoda: Spirostreptida: Harpagophoridae), Zootaxa 2016, pp. 17-50 : 38

Thyropygus bispinus n. sp.

( Figs. 12 A–D)

Material: HOLOTYPE male THAILAND, Uthaithani Province, Tap-Tan district, 15° 29ˏ 11˝ N, 99° 48ˏ 48˝ E. July 1996. T. Werner leg., ( ZSM). – Paratype: 1 male THAILAND, 2 km East of Mae Lai subdistrict, Muang district, Phrae Province, 80 km East of Lampang Province, 18° 13ˏ 21˝ N, 100° 12ˏ 30˝ E. 20 August 1987. T. Werner leg., ( ZSM).

Etymology: The name refers to the presence of only two spines on the gonopod telopodite – one of the characters that separate this species from the otherwise very similar T. inflexus .

Diagnosis: A species of the opinatus subgroup. Spatulate lobe ( sl) at the apical part of telopodite expanded, smooth and without a spine. Similar in these respects to T. inflexus , T. bearti , T. chelatus , T. cristagalli , T. brachyacanthus and T. loxia . Differs from the last five of these species by having the mesal process of anterior coxal fold ( amp) longer than lateral process of anterior coxal fold ( alp) and tip of alp overlapping tip of amp. Particularly similar to T. inflexus , but differing from it by amp being apically sharp, by lateral process of posterior coxal fold ( plp) being large, rounded, pointing mesad, by the presence of a telopodite lobe ( lo), by femoral spine ( fe), being long, by margins of spatulate lobe ( sl) terminally meeting in a distinct angle and by the absence of a small spine ( ss) on the gonopod telopodite, opposite the tibial spine.

Description: Adult male with 61 podous rings, no apodous rings. Length ca. 10 cm (broken), width ca. 7.0 mm. Color in life unknown; preserved specimen brown.

Gonopods ( Figs. 12 A–D): Anterior coxal fold ( ac) ( Fig. 12 A), lateral process ( alp) long, slender, regularly curved, sickle-shaped; mesal process ( amp) slightly longer than lateral process ( alp), protruding from the middle of the mesal margin of ac, apically sharp. Posterior coxal fold ( pc) ( Fig. 12 B) basally with moderately high lateral paracoxites ( px), distally with two processes: mesal process ( pmp) flattened, curving behind plp; lateral process ( plp) a rounded lobe, projecting further caudad. Telopodite ( Figs. 12 C–D) leaving coxite between pmp and plp; femoral spine ( fe) flattened, very long, in situ resting close to middle part of ac; telopodite distally to fe with a round lobe ( lo) projecting distolaterally; tibial spine ( ti) long, slender, recurved and almost reaching tip of lo; margins of spatulate lobe ( sl) terminally meeting in a distinct angle (but not forming a spine), lateral margin of sl twisted; a small accessory lobe ( al) at base of sl and a twisted lamella behind sl; palette ( pa) simple, gutter-like, with a longitudinal rounded crest ( cr) near tip, distally with about nine brownish blepharochaetae ( bp).

Distribution ( Fig. 20): Known only from the type locality in central Thailand and one additional locality in northern Thailand, the two sites being separated by approximately 365 km.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Thyropygus bispinus, holotype, gonopods. A: anterior view, left telopodite removed. B: posterior view, left telopodite removed. C: left telopodite, anterior view. D: left telopodite, posterior view.