The millipede genus Tasmaniosoma Verhoeff, 1936 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Dalodesmidae) from Tasmania, Australia, with descriptions of 18 new species
Author
Mesibov, Robert
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Australia
text
ZooKeys
2010
2010-03-26
41
4
31
80
journal article
10.3897/zookeys.41.420
ea2c4da4-3899-41cd-80f4-b7df9302da79
1313–2970
576649
FC5CFE57-05F9-4685-BC02-BB82AB9E4894
Tasmaniosoma
clarksonorum
sp. n.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:
F8AE3AE0-B587-4720-B41A-CFCD5EE353EA
Figs 1B, 1F, 10B; map
Fig. 25
Holotype
.
Male
,
Australia
,
Tasmania
,
Mt Barrow
,
41°21'33"S
147°24'54"E
(
EQ
346211
) ±
100 m
,
740 m
,
1 August 2005
,
W. & L. Clarkson
, under bark
on
Eucalyptus
,
QVM 23
:46584.
Paratypes
.
10 males
,
2 females
, 1 stadium
VI
female, details as for
holotype
,
QVM 23
: 46583
;
9 males
,
5 females
, details as for
holotype
but
41°21'30"S
147°24'24"E
(
EQ
339212
) ±
100 m
,
750 m
,
QVM 23
:46582
.
Other
material examined.
80 males
and
17 females
from 28 other sites (see Appendix).
Diagnosis
.
Metatergites with three transverse rows of large, low, contiguous tubercles; leg 7 sternal tab with dense brush of stout, rod-like setae; gonopod telopodite with central, flattened process notched into three parts and two combs of long, stout, rodlike setae on posterior surface, the distal comb directed distally and the much smaller basal comb directed basally.
Description
.
Male/female approximate measurements: length 11/
11 mm
, ring 12 paranota width 1.4/
1.5 mm
. Live and freshly preserved males with head violet dorsally; antennae purplish-brown; legs pale, reddish distally; paranota with reticulate red pattern (Fig. 1B); prozonites dorsally brown, darker laterally and posteriorly, with small paramedian pale yellow patches, arcuate or semicircular, in posterior half; metazonites dorsally with paramedian pale yellow patches on waist contrasting with dark brown colouring medially and laterally, and metatergites light brown with darker patches bordering paranota, and paramedian pale yellow spots in posterior half; laterally (Fig. 1F) a mottled brown on metazonites below paranota and on prozonites, pale yellow on metazonites just posterior to suture; ventrally with pale yellow prozonites and light brown sternites. Female live colouring similar, but with pale yellow patches more distinct, and with median longitudinal dark brown band dorsally on metazonites. In alcohol, long-preserved specimens light brown with reddish markings laterally on metatergites.
Most non-gonopod details as for
T. armatum
, but antennomeres 3 and 6 equal in length and longest, relative widths tergite 6>5>(4,head)>(3,2)>collum, ring 12 paranota 1.3 × as wide as prozonite, leg 6 tarsus 2 × as long as femur, prefemur not as swollen. Anterior margin of metatergite smoothly curving into lateral edge of paranota (shoulder less distinct than in
T. armatum
); metatergite almost completely covered with three transverse rows of 10–12 large, low tubercles, each with small seta near pos- terior edge. Ring 2 pit with rim only defined anteriorly and laterally. Ring 6 sternite with no leg 6 tab; leg 7 tab long, thickened, with row of fine setae on anterior surface; sparse row of fine setae on anterior sternal margin.
Gonopod telopodite (Fig. 10B) straight, subcylindrical, divided at slightly more than 3/4 telopodite height into apical cluster of three major processes: (a) short, rodlike, slightly curved, acute solenomere medially; (b) long, rod-like, acute and slightly sinuous lateral process, directed laterally before abruptly turning distal; (c) broad, flattened central process between (a) and (b), deeply notched to produce blade-like, curved anterolateral branch, slender, acute central branch and rounded, tab-like posteromedial branch. In addition, very short, stout process arising just anterior to solenomere base and directed anteromedially, the tip notched. Closely packed row of 15–20 stout, rodlike, distally directed setae on distal side of oblique thickening on the posterior surface, the row running from a point basal to solenomere origin distolaterally to a point basal to lateral process origin; cluster of 5–10 stout, rod-like setae arising at ca 1/2 telopodite height on posterolateral surface and directed posterolaterally and slightly basally; and sparse fine setae on posterolateral surface to ca 1/3 telopodite height. Prostatic groove running more or less straight base of solenomere on medial surface.
Female more robust than male and with distinctly shorter midbody metatergites, width:length 3.0 in female vs
2.3 in
male.
Distribution
.
Often locally abundant in cool temperate rainforest and wet eucalypt forest over ca
2000 km
2
in
northeast
Tasmania
from ca
250 m
to at least
1000 m
elevation (
Fig. 25
). Occurs west almost to Lilydale, north and east to the Weldborough area, and south to Mt Stewart between Epping Forest and Avoca. Th e southern outlier on Mt Stewart may not be a disjunct population; the forests between this
T. clarksonorum
locality and the more northern ones have not yet been carefully surveyed for millipedes. Sympatric with
T. decussatum
sp. n.
and
T. gerdiorivum
sp. n.
, parapatric with
T. armatum
on Mt Barrow and near Weavers Creek, and possibly parapatric with
T. cacofonix
sp. n.
in the east of the
T. clarksonorum
range.
Etymology
.
In honour of Tasmanian field naturalists Wade and Lisa Clarkson, who enthusiastically searched for this and other
Tasmaniosoma
species in
2005 and 2006
.