The Millipede Families Cryptodesmidae, Haplodesmidae, Pyrgodesmidae, Opisotretidae and Xystodesmidae in Taiwan (Diplopoda, Polydesmida)

Authors

  • SERGEI I. GOLOVATCH Institute for Problems of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky pr. 33, Moscow 119071, RUSSIA
  • ELENA V. MIKHALJOVA Institute of Biology and Soil Science, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, prospekt Stoletiya Vladivostoka 159, Vladivostok 690022, RUSSIA
  • HSUEH-WEN CHANG Department of Biological Sciences, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 804 R.O.C.

Keywords:

Polydesmida, faunistics, taxonomy, new species, new synonymy, distribution, Taiwan

Abstract

Faunistic records are provided, summarized and mapped for several smaller families of the millipede order Polydesmida in Taiwan. Both Pyrgodesmidae and Opisotretidae are new to the Taiwanese list. The former family is represented there by the nearly pantropical Cryptocorypha ornata (Attems, 1938) which is new to the island’s fauna, as well as by two new species of Ampelodesmus Miyosi, 1956: A. taiwanensis n. sp. and A. similis n. sp.; both latter taxa are incorporated in a key to all five species of the genus. Cryptodesmidae are actually represented in Taiwan by a single, widespread, briefly redescribed and richly illustrated species, Niponia nodulosa Verhoeff, 1931 (= Onomatoplanus simplexus Wang, 1957, n. syn.), while both Opisotretidae and Xystodesmidae by a closer unidentified species of ?Corypholophus Attems, 1937 and Riukiaria Attems, 1938, respectively. In addition to Eutrichodesmus taiwanensis Golovatch, Mikhaljova, Korsós and Chang, 2010, the family Haplodesmidae contains in Taiwan the almost pantropical Prosopodesmus jacobsoni Silvestri, 1910, thus confirming an earlier record.

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Published

2011-10-01

How to Cite

[1]
GOLOVATCH, S.I., MIKHALJOVA, E.V. and CHANG, H.-W. 2011. The Millipede Families Cryptodesmidae, Haplodesmidae, Pyrgodesmidae, Opisotretidae and Xystodesmidae in Taiwan (Diplopoda, Polydesmida). Tropical Natural History. 11, 2 (Oct. 2011), 119–134.

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 2 (2011): October

Section

Original Articles

License

Chulalongkorn University. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher