Systematic revision and phylogenetic reassessment of the centipede genera Rhysida Wood, 1862 and Alluropus Silvestri, 1912 (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) in Southeast Asia, with further discussion of the subfamily Otostigminae

Abstract

Phylogenetic relationships of two morphologically similar scolopendrid genera, Rhysida Wood, 1862, and Alluropus Silvestri, 1912, were investigated based on broad-scale taxonomic sampling from SE Asia, India and Australia. Morphological revision and molecular phylogenetics using three loci validate seven Rhysida species in SE Asia and Australia: R. lithobioides (Newport, 1845), R. longipes (Newport, 1845), R. immarginata (Porat, 1876), R. nuda (Newport, 1845), R. carinulata (Haase, 1887), R. singaporiensis Verhoeff, 1937 and R. polyacantha Koch, 1985. The nominal SE Asian species R. leviventer Attems, 1953 and R. marginata Attems, 1953 are placed in junior subjective synonymy with R. lithobioides and Alluropus calcaratus (Pocock, 1891), respectively. The monotypic genus Alluropus is redescribed, molecular phylogeny recovering it nesting together with Indo-Australian Rhysida. Taxonomic revision reassigned R. calcarata Pocock, 1891 to Alluropus based on its morphological and molecular similarity to the type, A. demangei Silvestri, 1912, the differences between putative species being sexual variation. Two morphologically distinct allopatric populations of A. calcaratus, comb. nov. (= A. demangei, syn. nov.) were found in the Indochina subregion. Phylogenetic relationships in Otostigminae remain unsettled because clades within several genera lack significant support, although Rhysida consistently falls into two clades that are not each other’s closest relative.

Correct Authorships, Synonymies, and Remarks on the Type Series of Fourteen Names of Centipedes Introduced by Yoshioki Takakuwa in 1934 and <i>Mecistocephalus takakuwai</i> (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha and Scolopendromorpha)

“…Therefore, the four names, viz., D. latifrons, T. moiwaensis, P. obtusus, and P. dentatus should be attributed to Takakuwa (1934a) whereas only M. ongi and M. brevisternalis are to be attributed to Takakuwa (1934b). Meanwhile, the authorship of R. l. brevicornis has been correctly attributed to Takakuwa (1934d) in subsequent publications (e.g., Takakuwa 1938aTakashima 1954;Chao and Chang 2003;Siriwut et al 2018) as well as Chilobase 2.0 (Bonato et al 2016g).…”

A new species of Otostigmus (Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha, Scolopendridae) from China, with remarks on the phylogenetic relationships of Otostigmus politus Karsch, 1881

“…The genetic distance between Otostigmus species was calculated using the Kimura 2-parameter model in MEGA X ( Kumar et al 2018 ). The COI , 16S, and 28S DNA sequences obtained from this study, as well as previous phylogenetic studies acquired from GenBank ( Siriwut et al 2018 ; Vu et al 2020 ; Joshi and Karanth 2012 ; Vahtera et al 2012 , 2013 ), were used as part of the phylogenetic analysis (Table 1 ). Three partitioned genes, COI , 16S, and 28S, were aligned in BIOEDIT 7.1.3.0 (11/4/2011) ( Hall 1999 ), using the CLUSTAL W tool ( Thompson et al 1994 ).…”

Species diversity and distribution of large centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) from the biosphere reserve of the western Nghe An Province, Vietnam

“…Specimens were identified according to the references of Attems (1930), Bonato et al (2011), Schileyko (1992, 1995, 2007, Siriwut et al (2016Siriwut et al ( , 2018. Ecological indices including the number of species, Shanon-Weaver H', uniformnity J' were calculated using the software Primer ver.…”