Four colorful new species of dragon millipedes, genus Desmoxytes Chamberlin, 1923, from northern Thailand (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae)

Abstract

Four new dragon millipede species of the genus Desmoxytes from northern Thailand are described and illustrated: D. des sp. n. from Chiang Mai Province, D. breviverpa sp. n. from Phrae Province, D. takensis sp. n. from Tak Province and D. pinnasquali sp. n. from Phitsanulok Province. The new species were compared with type specimens of closely related species and were all found to exhibit explicit morphological differences from these. They can be distinguished from other members of Desmoxytes by the shape of the gonopods, the sternal process between male coxae 4, the pattern of spines or tubercles on the metaterga, and the shape of the paraterga. The coloration of all new species is clearly aposematic: ranging from purple-pink to red. The new species are discussed in relation to their congeners, and a distribution map is provided.

A revision of dragon millipedes I: genus Desmoxytes Chamberlin, 1923, with the description of eight new species (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae)

“…After examination of newly collected specimens, and comparison with type material of all congeners, we found distinctive morphological characters, mainly in gonopods and paraterga, indicating heterogeneity of Desmoxytes s.s. A preliminary study on phylogeny of dragon millipedes based on mtDNA and nuclear DNA shows a perfect congruence with morphology (Srisonchai et al 2017) and further indicates that Desmoxytes as hitherto understood (i. e., sensu Golovatch and Enghoff 1994) is not a monophyletic taxon. Therefore, we find it necessary to subdivide the dragon millipedes into five genera.…”

“…The “tramp” species D. planata (Pocock, 1895) has become widely dispersed to Fiji, French Polynesia, India, Indonesia, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka (Attems 1936, Chamberlin 1923, 1941, Golovatch and Korsós 1992, Jeekel 1980b, Mauriès 1980, Ramage 2017, Shelley and Lehtinen 1998, Tikader and Das 1985). Most species are best represented in or even restricted to limestone habitats and caves (Enghoff et al 2007, Liu et al 2014, 2016, Srisonchai et al 2016), and some are probably troglobites (Loksa 1960, Golovatch et al 2010, 2012, Liu et al 2014, 2016). …”

“…The genus was revised by Golovatch and Enghoff (1994), and further variable gonopod characters were added to the diagnosis by Golovatch et al (2012). Several new species were described recently (Liu et al 2014, 2016, Likhitrakarn et al 2015, Golovatch et al 2016, Srisonchai et al 2016). However, for the time being, no updated diagnosis exists for Desmoxytes .…”

A revision of dragon millipedes IV: the new genus Spinaxytes, with the description of nine new species (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae)

“…The discovery rate of new dragon millipede species has been increasing in recent years (Liu et al 2014, 2016; Likhitrakarn et al 2015; Golovatch et al 2016; Srisonchai et al 2016, 2018a, 2018b, 2018c). Including the nine new species described here, the diversity of dragon millipedes ( Desmoxytes + Hylomus + Nagaxytes + Gigaxytes + Spinaxytes gen. n.) has now reached 59 species.…”

“…We use morphological terminology according to previous taxonomic publications (Chamberlin 1923; Jeekel 1964, 1980, 2003; Golovatch and Enghoff 1994; Enghoff et al 2007; Golovatch et al 2012; Srisonchai et al 2016, 2018a, 2018b, 2018c. Details of gonopodal terms are shown in the gonopod terminology section below.…”