Abstract
A new species of Eupolybothrus Verhoeff, 1907 discovered in caves of Velebit Mountain in Croatia is described. E. liburnicus sp. n. exhibits a few morphological differences from its most similar congeners, all of which are attributed to the subgenus Schizopolybothrus Verhoeff, 1934, and two approaches to species delimitation using the COI barcode region identify it as distinct from the closely allied E. cavernicolus Stoev & Komerički, 2013. E. spiniger (Latzel, 1888) is redescribed and a lectotype is designated for it as well as E. caesar (Verhoeff, 1899) to stabilize their respective taxonomic status. The subspecies E. acherontis wardaranus Verhoeff, 1937, previously suspected to be a synonym of E. caesar (Verhoeff, 1899), is redescribed and its taxonomy revised after the study of type material whereas the identity of E. acherontis (Verhoeff, 1900) described from a female from southwest Trebinje (Bosnia and Herzegovina) remains unknown. Type material of E. stygis (Folkmanova, 1940) is confirmed to be lost and future designation of neotypes from topotypic specimens is necessary to stabilize its taxonomy. The importance of setal arrangement on the intermediate and 14th tergites and the sexual modifications on the male 15th prefemur for species identification is discussed in the light of present findings, and a review of the species of E. (Schizopolybothrus) that display these traits is also provided.
Highlights
The genus Eupolybothrus Verhoeff, 1907 comprises ca. 40 valid and doubtful species and subspecies
Type material is shared between the Croatian Biospeleological Society – Croatian Natural History Museum (CBSS), The Natural History Museum Denmark – University of Copenhagen (ZMUC), Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHMW), and the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia (NMNHS)
Morphological descriptions of species of the genus Eupolybothrus have traditionally relied on a number of standard external characters broadly used in lithobiomorph taxonomy (Tobias 1974, Andersson 1981) such as body length, length and width of cephalic plate, number of antennal articles, ocelli, coxosternal teeth, setae on clypeus, Table 2
Summary
The genus Eupolybothrus Verhoeff, 1907 comprises ca. 40 valid and doubtful species and subspecies. A species morphologically similar to E. cavernicolus, genetically differing from it by 11% interspecific distance based on COI, and morphologically differing by the slightly convex posterior margin of T14, presence of 15CxVp and 15PDp spines, and by the leg 15 to body length ratio of ca.
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