Tokyosoma australe (Shear) Shear, 2010

Mikhaljova, Elena V., Golovatch, Sergei I. & Chang, Hseuh-Wen, 2010, The millipede family Diplomaragnidae in Taiwan, with descriptions of nine new species (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida), Zootaxa 2615, pp. 23-46 : 39-41

Tokyosoma australe (Shear) , new combination.

Fig. 32 .

Diplomaragna australis Shear 1999: 15 –17: figs 2, 3. Diplomaragna australis — Korsós 2004: 19.

Material examined: 1 male ( NMNS –6345–017, D– 0213), Taiwan, Hualien County, Zhuoxi Township, Mt Nei-Ling-Er, 24 April 1999, leg. S.H. Wu; 1 female ( HNHM) Taiwan, Nantou County, Shueili, Renluen, experimental forest area, primary forest, 23°42.5’ N, 120°55.3’ E, 1615 m, 15 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 1 male ( NMNS –6345–018, D–0508), Taiwan, Nantou County, Ren-ai Township, Meifeng, 19 February 2002, leg. S.H. Wu; 1 male ( HNHM), Taiwan, Hualien County, Taroko National Park, Kuanyuan, near bridge along road No. 8, primary broad-leaved forest, 24°11.292’ N, 121°20.632’ E, 2260 m, 22 May 2008, leg. L. Dányi, Z. Korsós & E. Lazányi; 1 male ( IBSS), Taiwan, Taoyuan County, Fuxing Township, Baling, Lalashan Forest Reserve, NW slope of Mt Taman, 24°42.684’ N, 121°26.360’ E, 1655 m, primary mixed forest, 19 October 2009, leg. L. Dányi & E. Lazányi.

Distribution: Taiwan.

Remarks: This species had originally been described as Diplomaragna australis from Chito Experimental Forest, Nanto hsienip (Nantou County), Taiwan ( Shear 1999). We consider it necessary to introduce the following new combination: Tokyosoma australe ( Shear, 1999) , new combination, because of a new interpretation of posterior gonopod structure (see below).

The above material conforms to the original description of Diplomaragna australis , primarily in gonopod structure. Only the following differences have been found, i.e. male coxa 10 carries a caudoventral papillate process with an anteriad curved and pointed or rounded apex ( Fig. 32 ); male leg 11 is supplied with a coxal gland; male leg pairs 3–7 are somewhat enlarged; small paraterga are developed on all somites except for 27– 31. Moreover, additional characters of the species have been discovered: male trochanter 10 is supplied with a ventral finger-shaped or small papillate outgrowth setose apically; the coxa of male leg 11 is supplied not only with a gland, but also with a tiny, subconical, ventral outgrowth; male trochanter 11 carries a caudal fingershaped process papillate mesally and rounded apically.

Even the few specimens listed above appear to show certain variations in habitus, in the structure of male coxae and trochanters 10, and in the size of paraterga. Thus, the apex of the coxal process of leg 10 in the males from Hualien County is either rounded or pointed, while trochanters 10 and 11 carry either a small or a larger digitiform outgrowth, as opposed to the pointed apex of the coxal process of leg 10 and a finger-shaped outgrowth of trochanters 10 and 11 in males from the other counties. In addition, the body of the males from Hualien County is slender, with a width of 0.8–0.9 mm, and with small but well-developed paraterga. In contrast, the body of the male from Taoyuan County is stouter, 1.0 mm in width, and with smaller, somewhat less strongly developed paraterga. The gonopods of the above males are very similar, except for certain individual variations. Thus, the posterior gonopod colpocoxites and the posterior gonopod lateral sheath processes of the males from Hualien County are somewhat narrower than those observed in the male from Taoyuan County. In addition, the femur of the posterior gonopod telopodite in the males from Hualien County is either devoid of an apical "claw vestige" or carries one.

To summarize, this species appears to show certain geographic and individual variation, mainly as regards the habitus and the structure of male coxae and trochanters 10 and 11. The absence of coxal glands from leg pair 11 in the male, claimed in the original description, appears to have been an error.

Figures

FIGURE 32. Tokyosoma australe (Shear, 1999), new combination, male from Hualien County, coxa and trochanter 10, front view. Scale in mm.