The centipede family Anopsobiidae new to North America, with the description of a new genus and species and notes on the Henicopidae of North America and the Anopsobiidae of the Northern Hemisphere (Chilopoda, Lithobiomorpha)
Author
Shear, William A.
text
Zootaxa
2018
4422
2
259
283
journal article
29146
10.11646/zootaxa.4422.2.6
47816d99-6645-43ad-a52d-33cc68a6a7c7
1175-5326
1455619
F6658C2B-9681-430A-8975-7B3AE2C233EE
Buethobius huestoni
Williams & Hefner, 1928
Buethobius huestoni
Williams & Hefner 1928
: 139
;
Mercurio 2010
: 44
(complete references)
The description is brief, but contains more detail than that of the following species. Nevertheless, key characters go unmentioned. Deep red in color,
10 mm
long, “antennae long, more than 30 segments,” coxal pores “2, 3, 3, 2–4, 5, 5, 5.”
Williams and Hefner (1928)
also state: “No pigmented ocelli; a light spot which resembles a non-pigmented area.” Interestingly, the margins of the coxosternum are said to have no teeth. The descriptions by Williams and Hefner of their
Buethobius
species are accompanied by two crude drawings, labelled only as “
Buethobius
,”
without reference to either species. However,
Fig. 26A
shows the posterior segments of a female with 5 coxal pores on the 15th coxa, and
Fig. 26B
shows a male with a coxal pore formula of 2, 4, 4, 5. Since
B. translucens
is said to have coxal pores 2, 2, 2, 2, it seems reasonable to assume that the illustrations are of
B. huestoni
.
However, neither illustration shows the prominent process of the 15th coxa seen in other
Buethobius
species. Andrew Weaver collected intensively for many years in
Ohio
and never encountered any species of
Buethobius
,
though he claimed to have seen one specimen from
Illinois
matching the description of
B. huestoni
(A. A. Weaver, unpublished data; this is may be the source of the
Illinois
record mentioned by
Mercurio [2010]
since Weaver shared his unpublished notes widely), based on the inference that the species lacks coxosternal teeth. However, I found two specimens in the USNM collection labelled “
Buethobius huestoni Oxford 1928
.” On the reverse, the handwritten label says “This is what we called
Buethobius huestoni
n. sp.
we have only
3 males
so far.” The specimens, a male and a female, are in poor condition; one complete antenna has 38 segments and the pore counts conform to the range given by
Williams & Hefner (1928)
. I could not determine with certainty if an ocellus is present, but it appears it is not. As described in 1928, the forcipular coxosterna of both specimens have a straight, even margin lacking teeth. Leg-pairs 1–12 have single-segmented tarsi; the female retains leg 13, which has an incomplete suture dividing the tarsus. Neither specimen has legpairs 14 and 15. The coxae of legpair 15 do not have a distomesal spinous process. This combination of characters is unique in both anopsobiids and henicopids, so determining the status of
B. huestoni
must wait for fresh collections. Heuston Woods, Oxford,
Ohio
, the
type
locality, is now a protected state park.