Chamberlinius piceofasciatus (Gressitt, 1941)

Chen, Chao-Chun, Golovatch, Sergei I., Chang, Hsueh-Wen & Chen, Shyh-Hwang, 2011, Revision of the Taiwanese millipede genus Chamberlinius Wang, 1956, with descriptions of two new species and a reclassification of the tribe Chamberlinini (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae, Paradoxosomatinae), ZooKeys 98, pp. 1-27 : 7-10

Chamberlinius piceofasciatus (Gressitt, 1941) Figs 9 –1639– 4145, 4653

Prionopeltis piceofasciatus Gressitt 1941: 59; Wang 1964: 69; Jeekel 1968: 69.

Chamberlinius piceofasciatus Hoffman 1973: 381, figs 23-27; Wang and Mauriès 1996: 87; Korsós 2004: 32.

Chamberlinius shengmui Wang 1957 b: 103, fig. 4; Hoffman 1973: 382; Korsós 2004: 22. New Synonymy!

Material examined:

1 ♂, 1 ♀ (CAS, type series number # 5617 of Prionopeltis piceofasciatus : contrary to Hoffman’s (1973) presentation, it is the female that Gressitt (1941) had labeled as the holotype, while the male is a paratype), central Taiwan (臺灣中部), Arisan (阿里山), 2,000 m a.s.l., 24 May, 1934, leg. J. L. Gressitt. 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (NMNH, Chamberlinius shengmui , det. & ded. Y. H. M. Wang), Alisan Kiayi (阿里山，嘉義縣), August, 1957, leg. Y. H. M. Wang. 1 ♀ (TFRI), Taichung City (台中市), Hoping District (和平區) (formerly: Taichung County 台中縣, Heping Township 和平鄉), Shengguang (勝光), 2,000-2,300 m a.s.l., 21 August - 24 September 2002, leg. W. C. Yeh. 1 ♂ (TFRI), same place, date and collector. 1 ♀ (TFRI), same place, 24 November - 24 December 2002, same collector. 1 ♂ (TFRI), same place, 26 March - 25 April 2003, same collector. 1 ♂ (TFRI), same place, 24 July 2003, same collector. 1 ♂ (TFRI), same place, date and collector. 1 ♀ (NTNUL-My 42), Nantou County (南投縣), Renai Tow nship (仁愛鄉), Hehuanshan (合歡山), 3,100 m a.s.l., 30 August 1988, leg S. H. Chen. 1 ♂ (NCHUL), same township, Meifeng (梅峰), ca. 2,000 m a.s.l., 2 April 2002, leg. S. H. Wu. 1 ♂, 2 ♀, 3 juveniles (NSYSUB-DI 44-49), same township, HuaGer water source (華岡水源), ca. 2,600 m a.s.l., 22 August 2002, leg. C. C. Chen and J. N. Huang. 3 ♂, 2 ♀ (NTNUL-My 1-5), Chia-I County (嘉義縣), AliShan (阿里山), 2,260 m a.s.l., 3 July 1989, leg. S. H. Chen. 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (NTNUL-My 59-60), same place, 2,250 m a.s.l., same date and collector. 1 ♂ (TFRI), Ilan County (宜蘭縣), Datong Township (大同鄉), Lakes Jialuohu (加羅湖), ca. 2,300 m a.s.l., 24 May 2002, leg. W. C. Yeh. 1 juvenile (TFRI), same place, 23 August 2002, same collector. 1 ♂ (NCHUL), Hualien County (花蓮縣), Zhuoxi (卓溪), 2,500 m a.s.l., 15 February 2008, leg. S. H. Wu. 1 ♂ (NTNUL-My 43), Taitung County (台東縣), Haituan Township (海端鄉), Siangyang (向陽), on wall, ca. 2,270 m a.s.l., 3 September 2002, leg. J. H. Chen.

Diagnosis:

Closest to C. hualienensis, but differs in often a lighter general coloration; in metaterga 2-19 with only a slightly infuscate (brown), subtrapeziform band in the anterior half (versus 1+1 darker, axially separated spots in Chamberlinius hualienensis ); in the paraterga like low ridges (versus higher ridges in Chamberlinius hualienensis ); by the pleurosternal carinae with small caudal teeth on segments 3-5(9, 10) (♂) (versus 3-7(8) in Chamberlinius hualienensis ); in the epiproct shorter; in the smaller spiracle-bearing ridges lateral to the gonopod aperture; and in the gonopods, in which the solenophore is rounded apically and considerably shorter than the solenomere, while the parabasal dentiform process is stouter and more solid (versus longer and membranous in Chamberlinius hualienensis ), always placed behind the solenomere in ventral view.

Description:

Length 29-33 (♂, n= 4) or 31-34 mm (♀, n= 3); width of metazonite 10 ca. 4-4.5 (♂) or 4.5-5.0 mm (♀). Specimens in NMNH: Length ca. 32 (♂, n=1) and 38 mm (♀, n = 1); width of midbody metaterga 10 ca. 4.0 (♂) and 4.3-4.5 mm (♀).

Coloration in alcohol (Fig. 9) light yellow-brown to light brown from head to end of epiproct, as well as from dorsum down to paraterga, sterna and legs; collum and metaterga 2-19 with a slightly infuscate (brown), subtrapeziform band in anterior half (Fig. 11); a lighter or darker anterior part of epiproct; colour pattern similar in both sexes, but ♀ darker; antennae increasingly blackish distally, but tip contrastingly pallid.

In width, head <collum <2> 3 <4 <5 <6 <7 <8-16 in ♂, or head <collum ≤ 2> 3 <4 <5 <6 <7 <8 <9-16 in ♀; thereafter body gradually and gently tapering both in width and height towards telson. Antennae (Figs 9, 10) moderately long to long in ♂, slender, reaching either behind posterior end of metatergum 4 to anterior end of metatergum 5 (♂), or anterior edge to end of metatergum 3 (♀) dorsally. Surface smooth throughout, rugulose on metaterga (Figs 10, 12) and below paraterga where evidently and densely granular on segments 2-19 in ♂; sometimes so only on segments 2-5, suddenly not so densely on segments 6 and 7, then wanting on segments 8-14, but traceable again on segments 15 and 16 in ♂ or on segments 2-18 in ♀. Paraterga (Fig. 11) very well-developed, calluses (Fig. 12) delimited by a sulcus only dorsally on segments 3 and 4, both dorsally and ventrally on segments 5-19; like low ridges always extending beyond caudal tergal margin on segments 2-19 (Fig. 9), spiniform caudally (Fig. 13) on segment 19 in both sexes or on segments 18 and 19 only in ♀. Axial line wanting to traceable in places. Transverse sulcus (Fig. 11) evident on segments 5-18 in ♂, likewise evident on segments 5-17, but only traceable on 18th in ♀, narrow, shallow, neither beaded at bottom nor reaching bases of paraterga. Stricture (Fig. 11) between pro- and metazona very faintly beaded at bottom dorsally. Pleurosternal carinae (Figs 10, 12) well-developed on segments 2-(9)10, traceabl e on (10)11-14(15), like low bosses on segments 15-17 in ♂, well-developed on segments 2-(9)10, visible on segments (10)11-(13)16, like low bosses on segments (14-16)17 in ♀, thereafter virtually absent in both sexes; with small caudal teeth (Fig. 10) on segments 3-5(9, 10) (♂) or 3(4)-5(7) (♀). Tergal setae fully abraded, pattern untraceable. Ozopores (Fig. 12) lateral, lying on callus ca. one-third metatergal length in front of caudal edge. Epiproct (Figs 13, 14) digitiform, flattened dorsoventrally, moderately long in lateral view, ratio of epiproct length to pre-epiproct length of telson 1: 2.2 in ♂ (Fig. 14); subtruncate and slightly concave to emarginate in dorsal view (Fig. 13); pre-apical papillae (Fig. 13) present, situated close to apex. Hypoproct (Fig. 15) roundly subtrapeziform caudally, 1+1 setae at caudal corners situated on well-separated knobs, sides straight to slightly concave.

Sterna moderately setose, not modified; a short, round, spiracle-bearing ridge flanking gonopod aperture (Fig. 16, arrows); each cross-impression with an evident transverse sulcus, but without axial groove. ♂ legs (Fig. 12) without tarsal brushes, ca. 1.5 times as long as midbody height, slightly shorter in ♀.

Gonopods (Figs 39-41, 45, 46, 53) peculiar in solenophore (sph) being rounded apically and considerably shorter than solenomere (sl), while its dentiform process (dp) more solid, and both sph and dp always placed behind solenomere in ventral view.

Remarks:

The sketch of a gonopod of Chamberlinius shengmui by Wang (1957) showed the solenophore being strongly broadened distad, while the solenomere broadened at midway. Apparently due to these distinctions, this species has since been considered as valid. We have been privileged to examine the specimens of Chamberlinius shengmui deposited at NMNH (without catalogue number) by Wang, and found the gonopod sketch of the solenomere accompanying the original description ( Wang 1957) misleading. Having also re-examined the ♀ holotype and ♂ paratype of C. piceofasciatus, both housed in CAS, and compared them side-by-side with shengmui, we found that these species are identical. Therefore, Chamberlinius shengmui is a new junior subjective synonym of Chamberlinius piceofasciatus .

Distribution:

Chamberlinius piceofasciatus seems to be endemic to Taiwan, being restricted to higher elevations (2,000 to>3,000 m a.s.l) (Map).