On the identity of the species described in the genus Lithobius Leach, 1814 by L. J. Dobroruka from the former Czechoslovakia (Czech and Slovak Republics) (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha)
Author
Tuf, Ivan Hadrián
Author
Wytwer, Jolanta
Author
Tajovský, Karel
text
Zootaxa
2008
1788
37
46
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.182511
6b9264fd-88d3-4865-9d3b-9654ecd088d5
1175-5326
182511
Lithobius pusillus johni
Dobroruka, 1959
Lithobius pusillus
Dobroruka 1956
: 271
.
Lithobius pusillus johni
Dobroruka 1959
: 105
–106.
Type
locality.
Mohelenská hadcová step NNR (= Serpentine Steppe of Mohelno), Moravia,
Czech Republic
.
Type
specimens.
The description of
L. pusillus johni
was based on 3 ɗ, coll. Dobroruka.
Material examined.
No material available.
Remarks.
Lithobius pusillus
Latzel, 1880
was synonymized with
L. lapidicola
Meinert, 1872
by
Eason (1982)
. Dobroruka characterized his taxon in two papers. At first he considered 2 ɗ as atypical specimens of
L. pusillus
(
Dobroruka 1956
)
, but later, after a study of the third ɗ,
Dobroruka (1959)
described them all as a new subspecies. The main distinguishing characters mentioned by Dobroruka were the spinulation of the 15th prefemur 1/3 (whole leg D: 0,0,1,0,0, V: 0,1,3,1,0, respectively) and the antennae with 25 (2 ɗ) or 30 articles (1 ɗ). The number of antennomeres in the original description of
L. lapidicola
by
Meinert (1872)
varies from 26 to 40, from 21 to 33, according to
Latzel (1880)
. The spinulation of the last legs in the course of development grows from D: 0,0,0,0,0 to D: 1,0,2,0,0 (
Latzel 1880
). However, Dobroruka found the same 15th leg spinulation formula as he described in his new subspecies shared also with a specimen of
L. lapidicola
from the same locality (
Dobroruka 1959
). Anyway, the absence of prefemoral spines on the 15th legs seems to be insufficient to distinguish subspecies.
Taxonomic note.
We consider
Lithobius pusillus johni
Dobroruka, 1959
as a junior subjective synonym of
Lithobius lapidicola
Meinert, 1872
,
syn. n.