A new species of centipede of the genus Cryptops Leach (Scolopendromorpha: Cryptopidae) from southern Western Ghats with a key to the species of Cryptops in IndiaAuthorBalan, DhanyaAuthorSureshan, P. M.AuthorKhanna, VinodtextJournal of Threatened Taxa20124425102514journal article10.11609/JoTT.o3035.2510-40974-7907498710202460D48-5EAC-4899-89B3-B516682CDA25Cryptops (Cryptops) malabarensissp. nov.
(
Figs. 2-3
and
Images 1–5
)
Material examinedHolotype
:
01.viii.2011
,
11032
’40.59”N &
75055
’33.40”E, elevation 641.2m, Urakkuzhy, Kakkayam, Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary,
Kerala
,
India
, coll.
Dhanya Balan
, (ZSI/
WGRC
/I-R/INV 2111) (
Images 1–5
).
Paratypes
:
29.viii.2011
,
three specimens
, from type locality, coll.
Dhanya Balan
(ZSI/
WGRC
/I-R/ INV 2080, 2108, 2109)
;
01.iv.2011two specimens
,
11030
’26.98”N &
75048
’24”E,
elevation
145m
,
Narayamkulam
, Calicut
District
,
Kerala
,
India
, coll.
P.K. Umesh
(ZSI/
WGRC
/I-R/INV 2079)
.
Diagnosis:
A species of
Cryptops
lacking anterior transverse suture on Tergite-1; tergite paramedian sutures from tergite 4 or 5–20; absence of saw teeth on the ultimate femur (
C.
hortensis
group); ultimate leg tibia with 4–7 saw teeth on the tibia and 3–4 on tarsus one; no accessory spurs associated with the tarsal claw.
Description of
holotype
Body length
23mm
. Colour (before and after preservation) greyish-brown with dark subcutaneous pigment on tergites. Ultimate legs yellow.
Antennae composed of 17 articles; basal two articles relatively stout with long setae distally. An irregular whorl of long setae on the proximal end of articles 1–3, the rest with setae scattered irregularly, not in whorls but the dorsal middle region is not densely covered. Short, fine setae abundant from 6
th
article onwards (
Images 4 & 5
).
Cephalic plate and tergite one without sutures, tergite one overlying the posterior edge of the cephalic plate (
Fig. 2
). Anterior edge of forcipular coxosternite weakly bilobed (
Image 1
) and with four long and one small setae on each side. Tergite paramedian sutures from tergite 4 or 5–20. Tergite 21 without sutures and with slightly angular posterior margin. Sternites with longitudinal and transverse sulci, longitudinal sulci longer than the transverse (
Fig. 3
). Sternite 21 with sides converging very slightly and straight posterior margin (
Images 2
&
8
). Legs 1–19 with undivided tarsi. No accessory spurs associated with the tarsal claw (
Image 9
).
Coxopleuron with nine large pores and with at least three minute setae in porefield; three or four fine setae on posterior margin and upto five between this and porefield. Posterior area of coxopleuron is poreless.
Leg 20 with dense fine setae ventrally on prefemur, femur and tibia in all specimens. Ultimate legs with strong setae on anterior, ventral and posterior surfaces of prefemur and on ventral and posterior surfaces of femur. Median longitudinal glabrous area absent. No distal tubercle on tibia and tarsus. No saw tooth on the femur (
Image 4
); seven on the tibia and three on the tarsus 1 (
Image 3
).
Additional information from
paratypes
Body length of
paratypes
varies between
11–21 mm
. Antennae of leftside is damaged in 2079. When compared to the
holotype
, the number of saw teeth on the ultimate leg tibia varies from four (2079), five (2080) or six (2108, 2109) and on tarsus 1 the variation is either three (2080, 2108, 2109) or four (2079) saw teeth. The number of coxopleural pores are not clearly countable.
Etymology
The species is named after the
type
locality “Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary”,
Kerala
,
India
.
6 - Dorsal view of antenna; 7 - Basal antennal articles; Sternite-21; Pretarsus of leg from middle trunk
Table 1. Ecological observations from the sampling sites
Ecological observations
Physiographic category
Midland
Highland
Sampling sites
Narayamkulam
Kakkayam
Altitude
145m
641m
Atm. temp
24–30 0C
19–28 0C
Distance from water source
120m
75m
Type of vegetation
agro ecosystem near a semi deciduous forest patch
moist deciduous forest
Soil temperature
23–270C
15–250C
soil pH
4.91
4.76
Org. Carbon
3.12
9.15
Habitat:
The specimens were collected from moist deciduous forest tracts of southern Western Ghats. All specimens were found in loose soil, about
4–5 cm
below the surface. Ecological parameters of the two collection localities during the period of
March–April 2011
are provided in
Table 1
.
DiscussionCryptops malabarensissp. nov.
is conspicuously different from the other described Indian species of
Cryptops
included in the
C. doriae
group (having saw teeth on the ultimate leg femur); and falls in the Old World
C. hortensis
group of
Lewis (2011)
(those lacking saw teeth on the ultimate leg femur), which have not yet been reported from
India
.
C. malabarensissp. nov.
closely resembles
C. decoratusLawrence (1960)
, which is also
Key to the
Cryptops
species
of
India
1. Sternites, at least on some anterior segments with trigonal sutures ………............................………….…….... …………………….………….......................................……(Subgenus
Trigonocryptops
) C. (T)
orientalis
Jangi
-
Sternites without trigonal sutures (Subgenus
Cryptops
)..................................................................................2
2. Ultimate leg femur with saw teeth…………….……….......................................................................................3
- Ultimate leg femur without saw teeth……… ……………..............................……….
C. malabarensissp. nov.
3. Tergite 1 with an anterior transverse suture. ........................................................................
C. kempi
Silvesteri
- Tergite 1 without anterior transverse suture.....................................................................................................4
4. Each side of forcipular coxosternite convex and with 12 submarginal setae….......……
C. setosior
Chamberlin
- Each side of forcipular coxosternite only slightly convex with 3 or 4 long and one or 2 small setae ……......… …………...…………………………………………………………………...................……………
C. doriae
Pocock
a member of the Old World
C. hortensis
group. The two species share the absence of sutures on the cephalic plate and tergite one; anterior margin of coxosternite almost straight, an overlapping number of coxopleural pores (7–9), a similar number of setae in the porefield (at least three) and ultimate leg characters such as prefemur with long fine setae dorsally, absence of a median longitudinal glabrous area, tibia with four and tarsus 1 with two saw teeth. However the new species differs from the
holotype
description of
C. decoratus
, in having no median ridges on the tergites, no posterior median depression on tergite 21 and the absence of accessory spurs on the pretarsi.
C. decoratus
is a Malagasy species closely related to
C. melanotypus
Chamberlin, 1941
from the
Philippines
,
Mauritius
and the
Seychelles
but
Lewis (2011)
was unsure of their exact status. However, the strong similarity between the new species and
C. decoratus
and
C. melanotypus
suggests dispersal of a group of closely allied species over a wide area.