Casuariverpa, Enghoff, 2016

Enghoff, Henrik, 2016, A mountain of millipedes V: three new genera of Odontopygidae from the Udzungwa mountains, Tanzania (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida, Odontopygidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 221, pp. 1-17 : 4

Casuariverpa gen. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5071EA1A-F2FB-4A8C-AE0C-4F18EA27C973

Type species

Casuariverpa scarpa gen. et sp. nov.

Other included species

None.

Diagnosis

A genus of Odontopygidae-Prionopetalini characterized by: anal valves with a well-developed dorsal spine, a similarly well-developed ventral spine and strongly protruding setiferous tubercles – male body ring seven with large ventral lobes – limbus very broad, with a simply denticulate margin – ventral postfemoral and tibial pads on some male legs - gonopod coxa simple, metaplica (mp) with a subapical basad spine (msp) – gonopod telopodite with a compact torsotope (tt) – no pretorsal or torsal spines/ processes – a pronounced posttorsal narrowing (pn) without spines – a division of the telopodite into solenomere (slm) and telomere (tlm) immediately distal to posttorsal narrowing – solenomere whiplike, with a very long accessory spine (ps) branching off near its base and with a small subdistal lobe – telomere simple, with a longitudinal ridge on concave side enveloping solenomere, distally expanded, with micro-spinose fields basally and distally.

Etymology

From Latin Casuaria , “cassowary”, and “ verpa ”, penis. Refers to the shape of the solenomere tip which is somewhat reminiscent of the head profile of the Australian cassowary ( Casuarius casuarius (Linnaeus, 1758)) . Gender feminine.

Remarks

In the key of Kraus (1966), C. scarpa gen. et sp. nov. runs to Trichochaleponcus Attems, 1928 (couplet 21). They key character for this genus is the very broad limbus (which is, however, paralleled in certain other odontopygids, e.g., Kompsoprium firmosum Kraus, 1960 ( Kraus 1960: fig. 69)). Casuariverpa scarpa gen. et sp. nov. also agrees with Trichochaleponcus species in some other characters, but there are differences enough, at least vis-a-vis the type species of Trichochaleponcus , that a new genus is warranted, cf. Enghoff (2016 a). Thus, Casuariverpa gen. nov. has strongly protruding setiferous tubercles and an exceptionally well-developed ventral spine on the anal valves, its gonopod coxa has no lateral process or spine at mid-length, its gonopod telopodite has no spine between torsotope and posttorsal narrowing, the solenomere has no second basal spine in addition to the very long one, and the telomere is expanded distally instead of being strongly attenuate. See Table 1 .