Expanded concept and revised taxonomy of the milliped family Xystodesmidae Cook, 1895 (Polydesmida: Leptodesmidea: Xystodesmoidea): incorporations of Euryuridae Pocock, 1909 and Eurymerodesmidae Causey, 1951, taxon revivals / proposals / transferrals, and a distributional update
Author
Shelley, Rowland M.
Author
Smith, Jamie M.
text
Insecta Mundi
2018
2018-09-28
660
1
41
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.3709976
b412f1c4-28b9-4786-9aec-f930c9c00373
1942-1354
3709976
015EC5C3-65C6-4418-BC6D-C36D58C4DCDD
Subtribe
Nannariina
Hoffman 1964
, New Status
Diagnosis.
Flexible and pliable Eurymerodesmini; mandibular stipes smooth, without ridges or projec- tions; postgonopodal sterna of males and all sterna of females essentially glabrous, caudal margins with acuminate, subtriangular spines subtending leg coxae; ambulatory prefemora with ventrodistal spines; pregonopodal tarsal claws of males twisted, broad, and spatulate. Gonopodal aperture glabrous, rounded or ovoid, margins not modified. Gonopods
in situ
medially oriented, cannulae mediad and telopodites extending anteriad over anterior margins of apertures; telopodites usually with variable prefemoral processes, acropodital hairs moderately long, usually discontinuous with light apical tufts on “inner” margins not obscuring “distal zones.” Cyphopodal valves of normal sizes and proportions for family, completely hidden in apertures, distal corners without extensions and projections.
Components.
Nannaria
and
Mimuloria
, both by Chamberlin;
Oenomaea
Hoffman
(
Hoffman 1964a
,
1980
,
1999
;
Hennen and Shelley 2015
).
Distribution
(
Fig. 1
, green;
Fig. 16
, red). East-Nearctic; endemic to the central and eastcentral
US
. The distribution extends, north/south, from Lake Ontario
New York
, northern
Ohio
, central
Illinois
, and
Missouri
south of the
Missouri
River to northeastern/eastcentral
North Carolina
, northernmost
South Carolina
, northern
Georgia
and Alabama, and northeastern Arkansas; east/west, it ranges from Virginia and Maryland west of Chesapeake Bay, eastcentral Pennsylvania, and adjacent New York to western Missouri and adjacent northern Arkansas.
Remarks.
Because of their clearly shared ancestry, we transfer this taxon from
Xystodesminae
to Eurymerodesmini, which holds priority by 13 years for the tribal name. Nannariinan acropodital hairs are longer than in any xystodesmine taxon, and they extend (dis)continuously along primarily the “inner” surface rather than the “outer,” as shown by
Chamberlin (1949
,
Fig 1
) and
Hoffman (1964a
,
Fig. 11
) in the
in situ
gonopods of
Nannaria minor
Chamberlin. Additionally
, eurymerodesminans and nannariinans are similar in overall body sizes and convexities of the dorsums. Divergence entailed development of a prefemoral process by Nannariina, which retained plain, ovoid apertures and traditional cyphopods, while Eurymerodesmina developed extreme elaborations of both, and their overlapping ranges in
Arkansas
and
Missouri
, west of the
Mississippi
River, and
Illinois
,
Kentucky
and
Tennessee
to the east, support our shared ancestry hypothesis. Molecular investigations are also in order.