Morphological and mitochondrial DNA data reshuffle the taxonomy of the genera Atopochetus Attems, Litostrophus Chamberlin and Tonkinbolus Verhoeff (Diplopoda: Spirobolida: Pachybolidae), with descriptions of nine new species

Abstract

Species-level taxonomy and phylogeny of two genera of South-East (SE) Asian pachybolid millipedes are analysed with a combination of morphological characters and DNA sequences (two mitochondrial gene fragments: COI and 16S rRNA). Strong support is found for the genera Litostrophus Chamberlin, 1921 and Atopochetus Attems, 1953 and for a clade consisting of Litostrophus + Atopochetus. Four species of Litostrophus are recognised and (re)described: L. segregatus Chamberlin, 1921 (type species of the genus), L. scaber (Verhoeff, 1938), comb. nov., L. chamaeleon, sp. nov. and L. saraburensis, sp. nov. The genus Tonkinbolus Verhoeff, 1938 (type species T. scaber Verhoeff, 1938) is synonymised under Litostrophus. Atopochetus (type species A. rubropunctatus Attems, 1953), hitherto considered a dubious synonym of Aulacobolus Pocock, 1903, is re-instated for several species until now placed in Tonkinbolus and seven new species. All in all, 10 species of Atopochetus are (re)described: A. dollfusii (Pocock, 1893) (= Aulacobolus rubropunctatus Attems, 1938, syn. nov.), A. moulmeinensis (Pocock, 1893), A. sumatranus (Carl, 1906) (= Trachelomegalus laciniatus Attems, 1937, syn. nov.), A. anaticeps, sp. nov., A. helix, sp. nov., A. setiferus, sp. nov., A. spinimargo, sp. nov., A. truncatus, sp. nov., A. uncinatus, sp. nov. and A. weseneri, sp. nov. Three species recently included in Tonkinbolus are left incertae sedis because they are based exclusively on female type specimens: Spirobolus capucinus Porat, 1896, S. caudulanus Karsch, 1881 and S. macrurus Pocock, 1893. The results of the DNA analysis (COI and 16S rRNA) are congruent with morphological (gonopodal) characters in terms of delimitation of species of Litostrophus and Atopochetus. This is the first DNA study of SE Asian Pachybolidae and as such it provides a basis for further evolutionary and biogeographic studies of SE Asian millipedes.

Integrative taxonomy of the new millipede genus Coxobolellus, gen. nov. (Diplopoda : Spirobolida : Pseudospirobolellidae), with descriptions of ten new species

“…Yet, this figure is steadily increasing, particularly with the recent discovery of new species of the family Pachybolidae in Thailand and Laos (e.g. Pimvichai et al 2018). The present paper aims to describe another series of new spirobolidan taxa from south-east Asia.…”

Combining mitochondrial DNA and morphological data to delineate four new millipede species and provisional assignment to the genus

“…Yet, by extrapolation from the recent discovery of numerous new pachybolid species in Madagascar (e.g. Wesener and Enghoff 2009;Wesener et al 2009aWesener et al , 2009b and South-east Asia (Pimvichai et al 2018), it is expected that many more pachybolid species still need to be discovered and described. The present study reports on four new species from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam ascribed to the poorly defined pachybolid subfamily Trigoniulinae Attems, 1909(see Hoffman 1962Enghoff et al 2015).…”

Figure 10 from: Srisonchai R, Sutcharit C, Likhitrakarn N (2021) The giant pill-millipede genus Zephronia Gray, 1832 from Thailand, with a redescription of Z. siamensis Hirst, 1907 and descriptions of three new species (Diplopoda, Sphaerotheriida, Zephroniidae). ZooKeys 1067: 19-56. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1067.72369

“…Recent intense collecting efforts made by Thai specialists in collaboration with the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation across the country have revealed numerous interesting millipedes, especially in limestone areas. From these efforts, several new genera and numerous new species have been recorded and described (Pimvichai et al 2018(Pimvichai et al , 2020Srisonchai et al 2018a, b, c, d;Likhitrakarn et al 2020Likhitrakarn et al , 2021. The present contribution provides descriptions of three new species of the genus Zephronia, as well as a redescription of Z. siamensis Hirst, 1907 as based both on topotypes and near-topotypes.…”