The Status of Cleptoria shelfordi Loomis, with the Proposal 
of a New Genus in the Milliped Family 
Xystodesmidae (Polydesmida) 
Rowland M. Shelley 
North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, 
P. O. Box 27647, Raleigh, North Carolina 27611 
ABSTRACT. — The new xystodesmid milliped genus Brevigonus is 
proposed to accommodate Cleptoria shelfordi Loomis. It is monotypic 
and distinguished by the brevity of the male gonopods, which in situ 
extend barely beyond the margin of the aperture. Two basic gonopodal 
variants of B. shelfordi exist, labeled A and B, but they do not appear to 
be reproductively isolated, and their sympatric ranges likewise rule out 
subspecific status. Variant A possesses an enlarged medial flange on the 
acropodite and a basal telopodal spine, whereas in variant B the spine is 
absent and the flange is reduced. Variant B, however, displays a promi- 
nent medial spur on the acropodite which is absent or greatly reduced in 
variant A. The two variants also differ in the curvature of the acropodite 
and its apical configuration. Brevigonus shelfordi occurs in a narrow 
band along the north side of the Savannah River in the Piedmont 
Plateau of South Carolina, from the vicinity of Clemson to McCormick. 
It has not been found across the river in Georgia, where the dominant 
xystodesmid is Cleptoria ahbotti Hoffman. 
In 1942 and 1943 Professor V. E. Shelford of the University of 
Illinois collected millipeds in the southeastern United States and sent 
them to H. F. Loomis, who published the results of the survey (Loomis 
1944). He described three new xystodesmid species, one of them named 
for Prof. Shelford and assigned to the genus Cleptoria, probably because 
of its large size, the triangular prefemoral process of the male gonopod, 
and the general appearance of the telopodite. Since its description, 
Cleptoria shelfordi has been mentioned in only two other taxonomic 
publications. The first was the North American checklist (Chamberlin 
and Hoffman 1958), which merely cited the species and incorrectly repor- 
ted the type locality (the De La Howe Forest) as being in Lincoln 
County, Georgia. It is actually across the Savannah River in McCormick 
County, South Carolina, approximately 1 1.3 km (7 mi.) west of the town 
of McCormick. The second reference was Hoffman’s (1967) revision of 
Cleptoria, in which he transferred shelfordi to “another generic group so 
far unpublished.” Thirteen years later this genus is still unpublished, and 
technically shelfordi has no generic name, a most awkard nomenclatorial 
situation. 
Brimleyana No. 3: 31-42 July 1980. 
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