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Bright white flat-backed millipede (Trichopeltis jiyue) like moon emerging from behind dark rain clouds

Bright white flat-backed millipede (Trichopeltis jiyue) like moon emerging from behind dark rain clouds

NEWS - Bright white flat-backed millipede (Trichopeltis jiyue sp. nov.) from Ailaoshan National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, is the second recorded epigean species of Trichopeltis Pocock 1894 in China. Jiyue (Chinese spelling) refers to the bright white appearance of the animal, like the moon emerging from behind dark rain clouds.

Polydesmida is one of the most diverse orders of Diplopoda (millipedes) with about 5000 species in 30 families and is widely distributed worldwide. All Polydesmida are blind, eyeless and metaterga usually show small to prominent lateral paranota or paraterga.

Cryptodesmidae Karsch 1880 is a family Polydesmida with about 40 genera and 130 species distributed in the Neotropics (Mexico to Argentina), Afrotropics (continental sub-Saharan Africa) and Asia-Australasia (Central Asia and the Himalayas to Japan and Papua New Guinea).

In tropical or subtropical Asia and Australasia, 12 genera and 36 species have been documented in Cryptodesmidae. Trichopeltis Pocock 1894 includes 13 species mostly documented in Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, southern China and the Himalayas.

This genus is well defined and is characterized by tripartite or deeply grooved gonopods, including small middle to caudal solenomeric branches. Six species of this genus have been reported from China, including five cavernolic species and one epigean species.

Trichopeltis is characterized by relatively long and stout setae on the gonopodal coxae, with the posterior portion having two conspicuous wing-like processes (cxp); glabrous and four-branched gonopodal telopodites; and caudolateradically curved acropodites.

T. jiyue has a length of ♂ about 17.2-17.8 mm, paratype ♀ about 17.0-17.4 mm, pro- and metazone widths of the middle part of the body are 2.2-2.4 mm and 5.3-5.4 mm (♂), 2.2-2.5 mm and 5.1-5.4 mm (♀), respectively. The live animal is uniformly bright white.

The tergites are uniformly bright white when alive; yellow after feeding for 1-2 months on local mor and leaves; whitish yellow to yellow, after months of preservation. Antennae are whitish yellow (proximal) to reddish purple (distal).

Among all 14 known Trichopeltis species, T. jiyue is most similar to T. kometis Attems 1938, T. doriae Pocock 1895, T. intricatus Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2017, T. sutchariti Likhitrakarn 2017 and T. muratovi Golovatch & Vanden Spiegel 2017.

The telopodite of the gonopod in T. jiyue has 4 branches (vs. 3 branches in T. doriae). It lacks a conspicuous accessory seminal chamber in the telopodite (vs. has a conspicuous accessory seminal chamber in T. muratovi). The gonopodal surface is relatively smooth, with dense microsetae (vs. abundantly toothed in T. kometis and T. bicolor Pocock 1894).

Adult length over 17 mm, pro- and metazones over 2 and 5 mm respectively (vs. about 10 mm, with midbody pro- and metazones 1.5 and 2.5 mm respectively in T. intricatus). Tuberculates on column have up to 12-13 irregular transverse rows (vs. 8-9 irregular transverse rows in T. sutchariti).

Original research

Wu Z, Zhang S, Qin F, Cong P (2024). A new epigean species of Trichopeltis Pocock, 1894 from southwest China (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Cryptodesmidae). ZooKeys 1216: 17-26, DOI:10.3897/zookeys.1216.128080

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