Complicatella pectenifera, Shear & Richart & Wong, 2020

Shear, William A., Richart, Casey H. & Wong, Victoria L., 2020, The millipede family Conotylidae in northwestern North America, with a complete bibliography of the family (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida, Heterochordeumatidea, Conotyloidea), Zootaxa 4753 (1), pp. 1-78 : 49-50

Complicatella pectenifera , new species

Figs. 194, 195 , 198–201

Types: Male holotype and three female paratypes from: IDAHO: Latah Co., E Fork of Meadow Creek Road (FS-1443) at SR-6, tributary of Mannering Creek , Idaho Panhandle National Forests , elev. 915 m., 47.0350°N, - 116.6729°W, collected 17 October 2009, by W. Leonard, C. Richart from litter and stream-side woody debris in a mixed forest including Thuja plicata , Abies grandis , and Tsuga heterophylla .

Diagnosis: Like C. complicata , a small species. The gonopods of C. pectenifera , n. sp. are distinctive. The anterior gonopods share the plan of C. complicata , with the tips much more expanded and hooked, while the anterior branch is considerably stouter and a strong median lobe is present. The posterior gonopod coxites are reduced, especially the main branch, and there are numerous pseudoflagella. The mesobasal knob on the posterior gonopod prefemur is not present in other Complicatella species.

Etymology: The species epithet means “comb-bearer” and refers to the comb-like appearance of the 6–8 pseudoflagellae of the posterior gonopod coxites.

Description: Male holotype: Length, 8.0 mm. Ocelli 13–15 in quadrilateral patch. Metazonites with poorly developed shoulders, segmental setae acute. Color pale tan to off-white, irregularly marked darker. Legpairs one and two reduced, three to six somewhat enlarged, podomeres not conspicuously swollen, femora four to six with knobs. Anterior gonopods ( Figs. 194 , 198 ) projecting posteriorly, with large median coxal knob, truncate anterior branch; terminus greatly expanded into two hooked lobes. Conspicuous deep pit laterally ( Fig. 194 ). Posterior gonopod coxites ( Figs. 195 , 199–201 ) reduced, main branch as short lamella mostly concealed in posterior view by group of 5–8 pseudoflagella. Femur with mesobasal setose knob. Coxae 10 not enlarged, with glands; prefemora 11 with usual processes.

Distribution: Known definitively only from the type locality, see Notes.

Notes: There is some ambiguity about the type locality. In addition to the locality cited above, specimens were also labeled as follows: WASHINGTON: King Co., Snoqualmie National Forest, Pratt Lake Trailhead , 1700’ asl, 47°23.821’N, - 121°29.108’W, 15 October 2009, W. Leonard. This location and the Idaho spot are separated by 260 mi (490 km), which raises doubts about which of the two should be the type locality; the gonopods are identical. However, the two collection dates are only 2 days apart, which suggests that the specimens were all taken on the same trip. Possibly one of them is mislabeled (or mislabeling could have taken place in WAS’ laboratory during curation). We decided to use the Idaho locality because those specimens were in two different vials with two distinctly different labels (albeit with the same information), one from William P. Leonard and the other from CHR. Further, the Pratt Lake Trailhead locality is a well-known locality for the congener C. complicata , where it has been collected on three different occasions. Though it is possible that this represents another disjunct distribution between interior and coastal rainforests in the Pacific Northwest as seen in other terrestrial invertebrate taxa (e.g., Richart and Hedin 2013), it seems more likely that this is the result of mislabeling that involved the Washington specimens.

Figures

FIGS. 194–197. Complicatella spp. Figs. 194, 195. Complicatella pectenifera. Fig. 194.Anterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 195. Left posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Figs. 196, 197. Complicatella neili. Fig. 196. Anterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 197. Left posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view.

FIGS. 198–203. Complicatella spp. Figs. 198–201. Complicatella pectenifera. Fig. 198. Anterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 199. Posterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 200. Left posterior gonopod coxite and prefemur, posterior view. Fig. 201. Right posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view. Figs. 202, 203. Complicatella neili. Fig. 202. Anterior gonopods, posterior view. Fig. 203. Left posterior gonopod coxite, posterior view.