Taxidiotisoma Mesibov & Car

Mesibov, Robert & Car, Catherine A., 2015, A new genus and species of native exotic millipede in Australia (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae), ZooKeys 498, pp. 7-16 : 9

Taxon classification Animalia Polydesmida Paradoxosomatidae

Genus Taxidiotisoma Mesibov & Car gen. n.

Type species.

Taxidiotisoma portabile Mesibov & Car, sp. n., by present designation.

Other assigned species.

None.

Diagnosis.

In gonopod structure, Taxidiotisoma gen. n. is closest to Antichiropus Attems, 1911, Australodesmus Chamberlin, 1920, Pogonosternum Jeekel, 1965 and Pseudostrongylosoma Verhoeff, 1924 in the Australian paradoxosomatid fauna (see Remarks). Differs from Antichiropus in lacking a process on the lateral surface of the femorite, from Pogonosternum in having the distal portion of the acropodite divided into two rather than three branches, from Pseudostrongylosoma in having a divided solenomere, and from Australodesmus in having a Y-shaped solenomere rather than a flagellum-and-sheath solenomere.

Name.

Greek taxidiotis, “traveller” + soma, Greek “body’, often used as an ending for generic names in Paradoxosomatidae ; neuter gender.

Remarks.

The gonopod of Taxidiotisoma portabile sp. n. appears most similar to that of species in Antichiropus Attems, 1911, Australodesmus Chamberlin, 1920, Pogonosternum Jeekel, 1965 and Pseudostrongylosoma Verhoeff, 1924, all four of which have been assigned to Antichiropodini by Jeekel (1968, 1979). In all five genera a long, well-demarcated femorite abruptly ends in several prominent processes, one of which is the solenomere. In Antichiropus there may be more than one non-solenomere process, but there is always one that arises on the lateral surface of the femorite; this lateral process is lacking in Taxidiotisoma portabile sp. n. In addition, Antichiropus species have a long, free solenomere that tends to spiral, whereas that of Taxidiotisoma portabile sp. n. is short and Y-shaped. In Pogonosternum species there are three acropodite branches, while in Australodesmus , Pseudostrongylosoma and Taxidiotisoma gen. n., there are only two, of more or less equal size. Pseudostrongylosoma sjoestedti Verhoeff, 1924 has an undivided solenomere. In Taxidiotisoma portabile sp. n. the solenomere is Y-shaped, i.e. divided into two sub-branches spaced well apart and not greatly different in size, while in Australodesmus divergens Chamberlin, 1920 the solenomere is divided into a thin, flagellum-like branch carrying the terminus of the prostatic groove and a much larger, flattened, cowl-like branch sheathing the thinner branch.

Taxidiotisoma portabile sp. n. is also characterized by a peculiar flattening of the head in lateral view, the result of depression of the clypeus.