A revision of dragon millipedes II: the new genus Nagaxytes gen. nov., with the description of three new species (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae)

Ruttapon Srisonchai,Henrik Enghoff,Natdanai Likhitrakarn,Somsak Panha

doi:10.5852/ejt.2018.462

Abstract

The ‘acantherpestes’ group of dragon millipedes, formerly placed in the genus Desmoxytes Chamberlin, 1923, is revised and assigned to the new genus Nagaxytes Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha gen. nov. Desmoxytes acantherpestes Golovatch & Enghoff, 1994 is the type species of the new genus and is redescribed as N. acantherpestes (Golovatch & Enghoff, 1994) gen. et comb. nov. Three new species are described from Thailand: N. erecta Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha gen. et sp. nov. and N. gracilis Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha gen. et sp. nov. from Kanchanaburi Province, and N. spatula Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha gen. et sp. nov. from Tak Province. All new species are endemic to western Thailand and all are restricted to limestone habitats. Complete illustrations of external morphological characters, an identification key, and a distribution map are provided.

Highlights

Srisonchai et al (2018) subdivided the dragon millipede genus Desmoxytes Chamberlin, 1923, sensu Golovatch & Enghoff (1994) into five groups based on morphological characters and DNA sequence data; they regarded each of the groups as a separate genus
Most specimens were preserved in 70% ethanol for morphological study and some in 95% ethanol for molecular analysis
The new genus Nagaxytes gen. nov. is well-characterised by having subspiniform paraterga, unmodified male femora, as well as a curved and long lamina medialis

Summary

Introduction

Srisonchai et al (2018) subdivided the dragon millipede genus Desmoxytes Chamberlin, 1923, sensu Golovatch & Enghoff (1994) into five groups based on morphological characters and DNA sequence data; they regarded each of the groups as a separate genus. The second in a series of articles about a revision of the dragon millipedes, we revise the ‘acantherpestes’ group sensu Srisonchai et al (2018). For this group we erect the new genus Nagaxytes Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha gen. To include Desmoxytes acantherpestes Golovatch & Enghoff, 1994 from western Thailand as well as three new species. All species are known only from western Thailand: Kanchanaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Tak Provinces

Methods

Results

Conclusion