Abstract
The East Asian millipede genus Riukiupeltis Verhoeff, 1939 is revised, and is restricted to a single species, Riukiupeltis jamashinai Verhoeff, 1939. Examination of the type specimens and freshly collected material from the Ryukyu Archipelago and Vietnam show that both subsequently allocated species, Riukiupeltis uenoi Murakami, 1975, and Riukiupeltis falcatus (originally Haplogonosoma falcatum Attems, 1953, reallocated by Jeekel 1968), do not belong to this genus; moreover, they are not even congeneric with each other. According to our morphological observations, including the gonopods, Riukiupeltis uenoi is closer to the widespread Chamberlinius hualienensis Wang, 1956, hence we propose the new combination Chamberlinius uenoi (Murakami, 1975), comb. n. Riukiupeltis falcatus, on the other hand, represents a separate, as yet monotypic, genus Simplogonomorpha gen. n., distinct both from Haplogonosoma Brölemann, 1916 sensu Golovatch et al. (1995), and from Verhoeff’s original Riukiupeltis. Additionally, Simplogonomorpha falcata (Attems, 1953), comb. n is re-described here based on fresh material from Vietnam. A key and colour habitus-illustrations to all three species are also provided here.
Highlights
The millipede genus Riukiupeltis was established for a single species R. jamashinai by Verhoeff, 1939 from the Ryukyu island Miyako, Japan (Riukiu and Mijako, in German)
The genus belongs to the tribe Chamberlinini, together with Aponedyopus Verhoeff, 1939, Chamberlinius Wang, 1956, Geniculodesmus Chen, Golovatch and Chang, 2008, and Haplogonosoma Brölemann, 1916 (Chen et al 2011)
The type specimen of R. jamashinai was studied as a loan from the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Munich, Germany (BSCZ), whereas the holotype of R. uenoi was borrowed from the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo (NMNS)
Summary
The millipede genus Riukiupeltis was established for a single species R. jamashinai by Verhoeff, 1939 from the Ryukyu island Miyako, Japan (Riukiu and Mijako, in German). Jeekel (1968) referred to the genus in his monograph on the distribution of the family Paradoxosomatidae, and placed it in the tribe Tonkinosomatini. Jeekel (1968) referred to the genus in his monograph on the distribution of the family Paradoxosomatidae, and placed it in the tribe Tonkinosomatini. The millipede genus Riukiupeltis was established for a single species R. jamashinai by Verhoeff, 1939 from the Ryukyu island Miyako, Japan (Riukiu and Mijako, in German). He tentatively allocated the species Haplogonosoma falcatum Attems, 1953, described from Xieng Khoang, Laos, to Riukiupeltis. Murakami (1975) described a new species Riukiupeltis uenoi from Sabichi-go Cave, Ishigaki-jima island, the Ryukyus. Following several discussions on the genus in the past (Jeekel 1968, Hoffman 1973, Murakami 1975, Chen et al 2011), its status is still dubious, so our purpose here is to provide a revision of the genus based on fresh material and type specimens
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