New species of Boreohesperus (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae) from north-western Australia
Author
Car, Catherine A.
8C425D2C-EF55-4DCC-A3E6-E4901E6A4A99
Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, Western Australia 6986, Australia. & urn: lsid: zoobank. org: author: 8 C 425 D 2 C-EF 55 - 4 DCC-A 3 E 6 - E 4901 E 6 A 4 A 99 & Corresponding author: catherine. car @ museum. wa. gov. au
catherine.car@museum.wa.gov.au
Author
Harvey, Mark S.
FF5EBAF3-86E8-4B99-BE2E-A61E44AAEC2C
Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, Western Australia 6986, Australia. & Email: mark. harvey @ museum. wa. gov. au & urn: lsid: zoobank. org: author: FF 5 EBAF 3 - 86 E 8 - 4 B 99 - BE 2 E-A 61 E 44 AAEC 2 C & Research Associate, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79 th Street New York, NY 10024, USA. & Research Associate, Department of Entomology, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118 USA. & Adjunct, School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
mark.harvey@museum.wa.gov.au
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2017
2017-05-22
320
1
11
journal article
22103
10.5852/ejt.2017.320
1e7a2fce-52af-414e-8ca0-398b338fe188
2118-9773
3829268
Genus
Boreohesperus
Shear, 1992
Fig. 1
Boreohesperus
Shear, 1992: 778
.
Type
species
Boreohesperus capensis
Shear, 1992
, by original designation.
Diagnosis
Boreohesperus
may be distinguished from the four other genera of Australian paradoxosomatids whose gonopods divide into two main branches,
Dicladosoma
Brölemann, 1913
,
Dicladosomella
Jeekel, 1982
,
Oncocladosoma
Jeekel, 1985
and
Somethus
Chamberlin, 1920
, by the two main branches of its gonopod arising from a distinct femorite that may vary from one-quarter to one-half of the acropodite length. In contrast, in
Dicladosoma
, the two thick gonopod branches arise from the prefemur, and the gonopods of each of the other three genera are split into two main branches much more deeply than in
Boreohesperus
,
almost to the base of the acropodite.
Description
The
type
species description remains unchanged from that set out in the first paper on
Boreohesperus
by
Car & Harvey (2013)
.
Taxonomic notes
The new species are considerably larger than those previously described, except
B. capensis
,
ranging in length from approximately
16–20 mm
. They, like
B. capensis
, also lack paranota. The gonopods of the three new species are also relatively larger (>
1 mm
in length) and much more robust than the delicate structures of the other species, five of which have gonopods less than
1 mm
in length. In all three new species, the gonopod femorite is relatively longer (approximately one-half the acropodite length), stockier and extremely broad when compared with those of the southern species, particularly that of the
type
species. It seems that the new Koolan Island species (
B. vascellus
sp. nov.
) represents one extreme of femorite stoutness while
B. capensis
has the most slender femorite of all (
Fig. 1
). Finally, with the exception of
B. capensis
, each of the described southern species has a marked bifurcation of the solenomere tip: two of the new species carry a small process at the solenomere tip; in the third, a process is entirely lacking.