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
10.
Otostigmus
(
Parotostigmus
)
productus
Karsch, 1888
(
Figs 18–21
)
Type material:
Lectotype
ZMB 926
, male (designated here),
S. Thomé
(
São Tomé
), Gulf of
Guinea
[
Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Principe
], leg.
R
. Greef
.
Paralectotype
male and female, from same locality and collection.
FIGURES 15–21.
Figs 15–17.
Otostigmus
(
Parotostigmus
)
gemmifer
Attems, 1928
, from Nigeria: Figure 15, cephalic plate and T1, dorsal view, scale bar 0.5 mm; Figure 16, forcipular segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm; Figure 17, coxopleuron and sternite of ultimate leg-bearing segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm. Figs 18–21.
Otostigmus
(
Parotostigmus
)
productus
Karsch, 1888
, from São Tomé: Figure 18, cephalic plate and T1, dorsal view, scale bar 0.5 mm; Figure 19, forcipular segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.5 mm; Figure 20, coxopleuron and sternite of ultimate leg-bearing segment, ventral view, scale bar 0.25 mm; Figure 21, tergite of ultimate leg-bearing segment and right ultimate leg, dorsal view, scale bar 0.5 mm.
Material examined.
Gulf
of
Guinea
:
São Tome
Isl.,
West Africa
,
8/11/1932
, in rotten wood,
Percy Sladen Memorial
and
Godman Exploration
, leg. W.H.
T
.
Tams
, 3 exx.,
BMNH
1933.8.30.240-242;
Gulf
of
Guinea
:
São Tome
Isl.,
West Africa
,
4/11/1932
, in rotten wood,
Percy Sladen Memorial
and
Godman Exploration
, leg. W.H.
T
.
Tams
,
1 ex.
,
BMNH
1933.8.30.243;
Gulf
of
Guinea
:
Zampalma
,
Såo Tomé
Isl.
,
13/9/1949
, leg.
I.L.J. Galbraith
, 9 exx.,
BMNH
1950.3.7.127-136. (
Fig. 8
)
.
Type locality.
São Tomé
. The identification of Rolas as the type locality in Chilobase (
Minelli
et al
. 2006
) refers to a
syntype
(
ZMB
927) that is here identified as
O
. (
P
.)
coltellus
rather than
O
. (
P
.)
productus
.
Karsch (1884: 55)
referred to the Rolas specimen as a “monströses Exemplar” and it was labeled “
O. inermis
monstrositas”.
General distribution.
West-Central Tropical Africa: Gulf of
Guinea
(
São Tomé
Isl.) (ST).
Remarks.
The
syntypes
of
Otostigma productum
Karsch, 1888
include two species, one corresponding to the descriptions of the species by subsequent workers in possessing 4+4 teeth on the tooth plates (
Kraepelin, 1903
;
Attems, 1930
), and the other being the species described as
Otostigmus
(
Parotostigmus
)
coltellus
n. sp.
A
lectotype
is selected herein, choosing a mature specimen that corresponds to the description of the species in the influential monographs of Kraepelin and Attems, to stablise the name according to the concept of the species employed since 1903.
In agreement with previous descriptions (compiled by
Attems 1930
), all based on the
type
material from
São Tomé
, the specimens from the same island studied here have 17 antennal articles, four of which are glabrous (
Fig. 18
), tooth plates with 4+4 teeth (
Fig. 19
), and two apical spines on the coxopleural process (
Fig. 20
). Ultimate legs lack prefemoral spines (
Fig. 21
). Legs 1–19 have been described as bearing one tarsal spur (
Kraepelin 1903
;
Attems 1930
), but in the NHM material legs 1 and 2 or 1–3 may bear two spurs, the remainder to leg 19 consistently bearing one.