Tholerosoma monteithi, Mesibov, Robert, 2006

Mesibov, Robert, 2006, Dirt-encrusted and dragon millipedes (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae) from Queensland, Australia, Zootaxa 1354, pp. 31-44 : 38-41

Tholerosoma monteithi n. sp.

Figs. 3 , 4 , 5 A, 5D, 5E, 6B; map Fig. 7

Holotype: Male , Downey Creek Road , Palmerston National Park, 17°36’30"S 145°46’E, 30.xi.1992 – 15.iv.1993, R. & S. Raven, P. & E. Lawless, pitfall NQ11a, QM S73973 .

Paratypes: 2 males, 1 female, details as for holotype, QM S73974 ; 3 males, Bluewater Range , 45 km WNW of Townsville, 19°12’S 146°24’E, 600–700 m, 6–8.xii.1986, G. Monteith, G. Thompson & S. Hamlet, QM S73975 ; male, Bluewater Range, 45 km WNW of Townsville, 19°12’S 146°24’E, 750 m, 7.xii.1986 – 16.ii.1987, G. Monteith, G. Thompson & S. Hamlet, rainforest, pitfall traps, QM S73976 .

Other material examined: QM: female, Upper Boulder Creek via Tully, 17°50’S 145°54’E, 900 m, 25–27.x.1983, G. Monteith, D. Yeates & G. Thompson, QM S73977 ; male, Mt Macalister area , Cardwell Range, 18°18’S 145°57’E, 900–1000 m, 18–19.xii.1986, G. Monteith, G. Thompson & S. Hamlet, rainforest, QM S73978 ; 2 males, Mt Graham , 8 km N of Abergowrie, 18°25’S 145°52’E, 600–700 m, 26–30.xii.1986, S. Hamlet, rainforest, QM S73979 ; female, stadium VII male, stadium VII female, Downey Creek , 25 km SE of Millaa Millaa, 17°39’S 145°47’E, 400 m, 7.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 813, QM S73980 ; female, Bartle Frere Track , 17 km W of Malanda, 17°23’S 145°47’E, 700 m, 8.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, QM S73981 ; 2 females, Upper Mulgrave Road , Kearneys Falls, 17°14’S 145°47’E, 100 m, 10.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, QM S73982 ; male, Lamb Range , 19 km SE of Mareeba, 17°07’S 145°34’E, 1100–1200 m, 11.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, QM S73983 ; female, 2 km SE of Mt Spurgeon, via Carbine , 16°27’S 145°12’E, 1100 m, 20–21.xii.1988, G. Monteith & G. Thompson, ex QMS18018 , QM S73984 ; female, Tully Falls Road , 10 km S of Ravenshoe, 17°43’S 145°31’E, 900 m, 8.xii.1989, G. Monteith, G. Thompson & H. Janetzki, rainforest, sieved litter, QM berlesate 831, QM S73985 ; 2 females, Mt Lewis Road , 25 km from highway, 16°32’S 145°17’E, 14.i.1990, ANZSES personnel, QM S73986 ; female, Mt Lewis Road, end , 10 km N of Mt Lewis, 16°29’S 145°15’E, 1100 m, 25.xi.1990, G. Monteith, G. Thompson, D. Cook, R. Sheridan & H. Janetzki, QM S73987 ; female , Pauls Luck , Carbine Tableland, 16°26’S 145°15’E, 1100 m, 28–30.xi.1990, G. Monteith, H. Janetzki & D. Cook, pitfall traps, QM S73988 ; male, Pauls Luck , Carbine Tableland, 16°26’S 145°15’E, 1100 m, 28–30.xi.1990, G. Monteith, G. Thompson, D. Cook, R. Sheridan & H. Janetzki, QM S73989 ; stadium VII male, Mt Halifax, summit , 19°07’S 145°23’E, 1050 m, 21.iii.–10.v.1991, D. Cook, pitfalls & intercepts, ex QMS41245 , QM S73990 ; female, above Kearneys Falls , 17°14’S 145°47’E, 550 m, 12.x.1991, G. Monteith, H. Janetzki & D. Cook, QM S73991 ; female, Mt Halcyon , 16°03’S 145°25’E, 870 m, 22–24.xi.1993, G. Monteith, D. Cook, H. Janetzki & L. Roberts, QM S73992 ; male, Maalan State Forest on highway , 17°35’S 145°35’E, 850 m, 25.xi.1994 – 10.i.1995, G. Monteith & J. Hasenpusch, rainforest, intercept, QM S38942 ; female, Josephine Falls , 17°26’S 145°51’E, 200 m, 19.iv.1997, G. Monteith & Russell, QM S40078 ; 3 females, Mt Lewis Road , 22 km from highway, 16°33’S 145°17’E, 1000 m, 29.xi.1997, G. Monteith & D. Cook, sample 1668, QM S35901 ; 2 stadium VII females, Mt Lewis Road , 29 km from highway, 16°31’S 145°16’E, 1210 m, 29.xi.1997, D. Cook, rainforest, leaf litter, QM berlesate 964, QM S35904 .

ANIC: female, 2 km N by E of Mt TipTree , 17°03’S 144°37’E, 800 m, 1.iv.1984, A. Calder & T. Weir, rainforest, ANIC berlesate 950, ANIC 64–000016 ; female, Mt Spec S1 , 19°00’S 146°11’E, 875 m, 4.xi.–1.xii.1994, M. Cermak, pitfalls, ANIC 64–000017 ; male, Mt Spec S1 , 19°00’S 146°11’E, 875 m, 6.xii.1994 – 10.i.1995, M. Cermak, pitfall A2, ANIC 64-000018 ; female, Mt Spec S1 , 19°00’S 146°11’E, 875 m, 9.iii.–6.iv ..1995, M. Cermak, pitfall A2, ANIC 64-000019 ; male, Mt Spec S1, 19° 00’S 146°11’E, 875 m, 9.iii.–6.iv ..1995, M. Cermak, pitfall B2, ANIC 64-000020 .

Diagnosis: Distinguished from T. corrugatum by having anterior and posterior pairs of paramedian swellings on metatergites; distal portion of gonopod telopodite not curving towards base; and plate-like structures covering spiracle surface.

Description: Male/female approximate measurements: length to 25/ 27 mm, maximum vertical diameter to 2.0/2.2 mm, maximum width across paranota to 2.6/3.0 mm. Ground colour in alcohol variable, tan to chestnut brown. Integument finely rugose on all surfaces carrying a coating of dirt. Head slightly wider than collum; vertigial sulcus well impressed to level of top of antennal sockets; sockets only slightly impressed ventrolaterally, separated by about one socket diameter; clypeus sparsely setose with long setae, vertex bare. Antenna ( Fig. 5 D) relatively short; antennomeres 3–5 nearly equal in length and diameter; antennomere 2 longer, antennomere 6 longest and widest. Collum in dorsal view semicircular, corners bluntly rounded and tilted upwards; 6 small, low, rounded swellings near anterior margin, 2 larger paramedian swellings near posterior margin. Overall widths of rings 2–4 about equal to collum width; ring 5 wider, ring widths very slightly and gradually increasing to ring 17. Lateral, anterior margin of ring 2 metazonite produced slightly to form a partial collar for head. Waist pronounced, with deep longitudinal corrugations ( Fig. 3 F). Prozonites with rough texture; at high magnification, covered with minute, blunt, processes pointed posteriorly ( Fig. 3 D). Metazonite surface with cellular texture, thrown into small, sharp-edged, irregular folds ( Fig. 3 E). Metatergites with 2 sets of paired paramedian swellings ( Figs. 3 A, 3B), one anterior and one posterior to faintly indicated transverse furrow; posterior swellings the largest, sometimes raised as thick “fins”, generally increasing very slightly in size from rings 2 to 17; small, low lateral swellings sometimes present on metatergites as well. Paranota ( Figs. 3 A–C) on all rings wide, inflated, tilted slightly upwards; anterior and posterior corners thick, rounded and blunt; margin with variably pronounced median indentation. Spiracles large, protruding, the surface composed of minute, slightly separated plates overlying a dense mass of extremely minute, bluntly pointed processes ( Fig. 6 B); anterior spiracle on diplosegments larger than posterior spiracle. Ozopore a simple pore opening ventrolaterally near posterior corner of paranotum; pore formula 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15–19. Sternites apparently bare, slightly wider than long, with only a faint transverse impression. Limbus minutely serrate.

Legs ( Fig. 5 E) long, slender; femur the longest podomere, tarsus about three-quarters femur length, claw small; leg setae mainly coarse and blunt. Pre-anal ring ( Fig. 4 B) with a few long, thick setae; epiproct thick, blunt, rounded, extending well past anal valves; hypoproct trapezoidal; spinnerets ( Adis et al. 2000) in square array.

Male with gonopore on short cone medially and distally on leg 2 coxa, no process on leg 1 femur. Ring 5 sternal lamella (between legs 4) short, narrow with shallow marginal indentation, posterior surface bare with 2 large pores on slight eminences. Gonopods ( Figs. 4 A, 5A) in situ reaching leg 6 bases. Aperture only slightly constricted anteriorly by median tooth on rim. Gonocoxae fairly short, with broad indentation on anterior surface basally and a few long setae on anterior surface distally. Cannula prominent, inserting medially at base of telopodite. Basal portion of telopodite (“prefemur”) densely setose with long setae on posteromedial corner, a few shorter setae on posterodistal surface; triangular in shape in posterior view, the triangle base being the flat medial surface, the distal corner slightly overlapping base of distal portion of telopodite on posterior side.

Distal portion bare, unbranched, subcylindrical, curving anterolaterally from slight medial shoulder at base, then posteromedially, bending abruptly laterally at about four-fifths of the telopodite height and curving 180° medially, then tapering, curving posteriorly and terminating in slightly expanded, flattened, forked tip. Prostatic groove following the curves and bends of the distal portion to the tip of the latter.

Female without extension of rim of epigynum; cyphopods not examined.

Distribution and habitat: Known from 23 sites in tropical rainforest from the Daintree area north of Cairns to the Bluewater Range near Townsville in north Queensland, an approximate linear range of 400 km and an elevation range of 100–1210 m. Sympatric with T. corrugatum in the Bluewater Range.

Etymology: In honour of Geoff Monteith, Curator of Insects at the Queensland Museum, 1978–2006.

Remarks: This species varies considerably in overall size over its geographical range, e.g. male length 18–25 mm. The pattern of curves in the gonopod telopodite is constant in the specimens examined, but in some males the terminal curve (after the abrupt lateral bend) lies in a plane perpendicular to the telopodite long axis, while in other males the terminal curve spirals distally. There is also substantial variation in size and prominence of the metatergite swellings, in how much the paranota are inflated, and in the prominence of the indentation in the paranotal margin. Variation in these metazonite features is often obscured by the coating of dirt, but there seems to be a geographical trend, with metatergite swellings larger in the south of the T. monteithi range. In a male from the Mt Macalister area (QM S73978 ), the paranota are relatively thin, deeply indented marginally and elevated at ca. 45°, but the gonopod is typical. In a male from Mt Graham (QM S73979 ), the marginal indentation in the ring 5 sternal lamella is barely detectable.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Tholerosoma monteithi n. gen., n. sp. (A) dorsal view of midbody ring (male, QM S 73979); (B) dorsal and (C) lateral view of midbody ring (male paratype partly cleaned with ultrasound, QM S 73975); (D) close-up of prozonite in (B), anterior at top; (E) close-up of left posterior section of metatergite in (B), anterior at top; (F) close-up of waist in (C), anterior to left. Scale bar for (A) – (C) = 0.5 mm, (D) = 0.05 mm, (E) = 0.02 mm, (F) = 0.01 mm.

FIGURE 4. Tholerosoma monteithi n. gen., n. sp. (A) gonopods in situ (male, QM S 38942); (B) ventral view of telson (male paratype partly cleaned with ultrasound, QM S 73975). Scale bars = 0.25 mm.

FIGURE 5. Tholerosoma monteithi n. gen., n. sp. (A) medial view of right gonopod, (D) antenna, (E) leg 6 (male paratype, QM S 73974). Tholerosoma corrugatum n. sp. (B) medial view of right gonopod (holotype, QM S 73993), (C) medial view of right gonopod (male paratype, QM S 73994), (F) outline sketch of midbody metazonite, showing location of swellings on posterior edge (female paratype, QM S 73995). Setation not shown; dashed lines in (A) – (C) indicate course of prostatic groove. Scale bars for (A) – (C) and for (D) and (E) = 0.25 mm.

FIGURE 6. Tholerosoma corrugatum n. sp. (A) dorsal view of midbody ring, (C) spiracles on midbody ring, anterior to left (holotype, QM S 73993). Tholerosoma monteithi n. gen., n. sp. (B) anterior spiracle on midbody ring, anterior to left (male paratype partly cleaned with ultrasound, QM S 73975). Scale bar for (A) = 0.5 mm, for (B) and (C) = 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 7. Localities for Desmoxytoides hasenpuschorum n. gen., n. sp. (left, squares), Tholerosoma monteithi n. gen., n. sp. (centre, triangles) and T. corrugatum n. sp. (centre, stars). Rectangle in Australia map (right) shows boundary of main maps.