A review of the millipedes (Diplopoda) of Namibia, with identification keys and descriptions of two new genera and five new species
Author
Vohland, Katrin
Author
Hamer, Michelle
text
African Invertebrates
2013
2013-06-30
54
1
251
251
journal article
2305-2562
Genus
Harpagophora
Attems, 1909
Harpagophora
:
Attems 1909
a
: 41
; 1914
a
: 162; 1928:372; Lawrence 1965: 50; Schubart 1966: 166; Demange 1983: 579; Hamer 1998: 54; 1999: 13; Redman
et al.
2003: 210.
Type
species:
Harpagophora diplocrada
Attems, 1909
, designated by Jeekel (1970).
Diagnosis: Two femoral processes on the telopodite, these unequal in length and width (
Figs 64
,
65
,
fp1, fp2
); posterior limb of telopodite comprising two branches, the spine branch (
Fig. 64
,
sb
) and the pectinophore (
Fig. 64
,
pe
). Syncoxosternite of first pair of legs with suture or divided.
Distribution: Four species occur in
South Africa
(
Western Cape
and
Northern Cape
) and two in
Namibia
.
Remarks:
Spirostreptus (Nodopyge) spirobolinus
Karsch, 1881
, was the first
Harpagophora
species
to be named but the description was based on a female, and only later was a male described from Hantam in the
Northern Cape
by Attems (1914
a
). While
spirobolinus
was placed in
Harpagophora
by Attems (1914
a
, 1928), Demange (1983) followed Jeekel (1970) in allocating
H. diplocrada
as the
type
species of the genus. Redman
et al
. (2003) subsequently created a new monotypic genus,
Metaphora
Redman, 2003
, for
spirobolina
.
Demange (1983) divided
Harpagophora
into two subgenera on the basis of the structure of the margin of the spine branch. Redman
et al
. (2003), however, suggested that this character does not show any relationship in its occurrence to the other major taxonomic characters in the genus, including the form of the femoral process and telocoxites, and so the two subgenera were synonymised.