Scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) in the Natural History Museum (London): A review of the hitherto unidentified species collected in Africa, with remarks on taxonomy and distribution, and a new species of Otostigmus (Parotostigmus)
Author
Simaiakis, Stylianos Michail
Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, Knossos Av., Herakleion 71409, Crete, Greece.
ssimaiakis@yahoo.com
Author
Edgecombe, Gregory D.
Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW 7 5 BD, United Kingdom.
text
Zootaxa
2013
2013-11-05
3734
2
169
198
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3734.2.5
1175-5326
5275595
36ED88E6-2CEB-4071-8429-A39901B8B9BF
13.
Rhysida longipes longipes
(
Newport, 1845
)
Branchiostoma affine
Kohlrausch, 1878
(for further synonyms see
Minelli
et al
. 2006
).
Rhysida yanagiharai
Takakuwa, 1935
.
Chao and Chang 2008: 10–11
.
Material examined.
Ghana
: Gold Coast,
West Africa
, leg.
S.J. Woodward
, 4 exx.,
BMNH
1934.5.17.7-11
;
Saint Helena
Isl.:
March 1937
,
1.800 ft
, leg.
P. Gosse
,
1 ex.
,
BMNH
1937.4.23.58-67. (
Fig. 22
)
.
Type
locality.
Not
stated (
Minelli
et al
. 2006
)
.
General distribution.
East Tropical Africa:
Tanzania
(
TZ
); Middle Atlantic Ocean:
Saint Helena
Isl. (SH) (new region record); Northeast Tropical Africa:
Somalia
(SO); West Tropical Africa:
Ghana
(GH) (new region record); Western Indian Ocean: Chagos Archipelago (
IO
) (
Lewis and Cole 2007: 82
);
Madagascar
(
MG
);
Mauritius
(
MU
); Asia Tropical:
India
(
IN
),
Taiwan
(
TW
); Southern America: St.Kitts-Nevis (
KN
); Virgin Is. (
VI
) (
Lewis 2002
;
Minelli
et al
. 2006
).
Remarks.
Assignment of specimens from
Ghana
and
Saint Helena
to this widespread tropical subspecies follows the key of
Attems (1930)
and descriptions by
Lewis (2002)
and Chao (2008). The sample from
Ghana
includes
three immature
specimens (length
26–31 mm
) and comparative remarks are limited to the largest specimen (
52 mm
). It has the following typical characters of the species: 18 antennal articles, three of which are glabrous dorsally; 4+4 coxosternal teeth with the inner and outer pairs grouped; two lateral teeth and an apical tooth on the trochanteroprefemoral process; paramedian sutures complete from T4; tergites marginate from 8; paramedian sutures confined to the anterior part of the sternites; a coxopleural process of the same shape as in
Lewis (2002
: fig. 13), with three apical/subapical spines and a lateral spine; prefemoral spines arranged as DM 3 (including a corner spine), M2, VM 3/2+2, VL 3; two tarsal spurs on legs 1–10 or 11, one tarsal spur on legs 11- or 12–19; one tibial spur on legs 1–4 or 1–6. A unique feature is the presence of a small dorsal spine on one side of the coxopleural process. The specimen from
Saint Helena
has two tarsal spurs on legs 1–7 and one on legs on 8–19, and has the prefemoral spine formula DM 3 (including corner spine), VM 3, VL 3.