The Millipede Family Haplodesmidae (Diplopoda, Polydesmida) Recorded in Taiwan for the First Time, with the Description of a New Species

Abstract

The East Asian to Australasian millipede family Haplodesmidae is reported from Taiwan for the first time on the basis of Eutrichodesmus taiwanensis n. sp. This new species joins the newly established peculiaris-group which also includes the Japanese Eutrichodesmus peculiaris (Murakami, 1966), E. nodulosus (Verhoeff, 1939) and E. silvaticus (Haga, 1968), as well as E. pectinatidentis (Zhang, 1995), E. anisodentus (Zhang, 1995) and E. soesilae Makhan, 2010, this latter trio from continental China. The species group is characterized by complete volvation often showing an unusual overlap pattern which becomes typical from segment 3 or 4, the presence of only two transverse rows of metatergal tuberculations, the broad and dorsoventrally flattened epiproct (sometimes unusually spatuliform in the male), and the gonopods slender, fully to nearly fully devoid of a distofemoral process, but at least sometimes supplied with an accessory seminal chamber. All of these seven species are keyed. The genera Kylindogaster Verhoeff, 1939 and Thelodesmus Miyosi, 1951 are formally allocated in Haplodesmidae, this being confirmed in the former case and newly established in the latter one. The following new synonymies and combinations are proposed: Kylindogaster Verhoeff, 1939, Thelodesmus Miyosi, 1951, Eucondylodesmus Miyosi, 1956 and Nanocondylodesmus Zhang, 1995 = Eutrichodesmus Silvestri, 1910, all syn. n.; E. nodulosus (Verhoeff, 1939), comb. n. ex Kylindogaster; E. armatus (Miyosi, 1951), comb. n. ex Thelodesmus; E. elegans (Miyosi, 1956), comb. n. ex Doratodesmus Cook in Cook and Collins, 1895; E. silvaticus (Haga, 1968), comb. n. ex Dimorphodesmus Murakami, 1966; E. pectinatidentis (Zhang, 1995) and E. anisodentus (Zhang, 1995), both comb. n. ex Nanocondylodesmus; Prosopodesmus similis (Haga, 1968), comb. n. ex Rhipidopeltis Miyosi, 1958.