ZooKeys 74 | : 203-2 | 7 (20 | 8) A peer-reviewed open-access journal doi: 10.3897/zookeys.74 1.19980 RESEARCH ARTICLE Z00Ke y S http:/ /Z00 keys -pen soft.net Launched to accelerate biodiversity research Lithobius (Ezembius) tetraspinus, a new species of centipede from northwest China (Lithobiomorpha, Lithobiidae) Sujian Pei', Yanmin Lu', Haipeng Liu', Xiaojie Hou! , Huiqin Ma’ I School of Life Sciences, Hengshui University, Hengshui, Hebei 053000, PR. China 2 Scientific Research Office, Hengshui University, Heneshui, Hebei 053000, P R. China Corresponding author: Huigin Ma (mhq008@yahoo.com) Academic editor: G. Edgecombe | Received 6 August 2017 | Accepted 15 October 2017 | Published 7 March 2018 http://zoobank. ore/3. 99C7789-2C1A-410F-A32D-B540DCAD2C35 Citation: Pei S, Lu Y, Liu H, Hou X, Ma H (2018) Lithobius (Ezembius) tetraspinus, a new species of centipede from northwest China (Lithobiomorpha, Lithobiidae). In: Stoev P, Edgecombe GD (Eds) Proceedings of the 17° International Congress of Myriapodology, Krabi, Thailand. ZooKeys 741: 203-217. https://doi.org/10.3897/ zookeys.741.19980 Abstract Lithobius (Ezembius) tetraspinus sp. n. (Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae), recently discovered from Hami City, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, NW China, is described. Morphologically this species resembles L. (E.) sibiricus, Gersfeldt, 1858, but is distinguishable by a different coxal pore formula, absence of accessory spurs on leg 15, morphology of the second article of the female gonopod, and legs 14 plectrotaxy. A table of the main morphological characters of Chinese Lithobius (Ezembius) species is presented. Keywords Chilopoda, Lithobius (Ezembius), NW China, Xinjiang Autonomous Region Introduction The centipede subgenus Lithobius (Ezembius) Chamberlin, 1919 accommodates a group of 58 species/subspecies mostly known from Asia, with little extension into north-west- ern North America. Known species colonize a wide range of habitats, from arctic and sub-arctic to tropical and sub-tropical forests, to steppe and overgrazed stony areas of central Asia, to Himalayan montane forests, from sea shore up to 5500 m (Himalayas) (Zapparoli and Edgecombe 2011). Although the subgenus was formally proposed as new Copyright Sujian Pei et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 204 Sujian Pei et al. | ZooKeys 741: 203-217 (2018) and described in 1923 (Chamberlin 1923), according to Jeekel (2005) its name had been already validated in 1919 (Chamberlin 1919). Ezembius is characterized by antennae with ca 20 articles; ocelli 1+4—1+20; forcipular coxosternal teeth usually 2+2; porodonts generally setiform, sometimes stout. Tergites are generally without posterior triangular projections; tarsal articulation of legs 1-13 is distinct. Female gonopods are with uni-, bi- or tridentate claw, and 2+2—3+3 (rarely 4+4) spurs (Zapparoli and Edgecombe 2011). The myriapod fauna of China is still poorly known and very little attention has been paid to the study of Lithobiomorpha, with only 74 species/subspecies hitherto known from the country (Ma et al. 2014a, b, 2015; Minelli et al. 2016; Pei et al. 2014, 2015, 2016; Qin et al. 2014). Xinjiang Autonomous Region is among the poorly stud- ied regions of China with only eight species at present registered from its territory (Ma et al. 2014 b; Pei et al. 2015, 2016). Altogether, 18 species of Lithobius (Ezembius) have been recorded from China, only three of them from Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Here with a new species recently found in Balikun County is described. Materials and methods All specimens were hand-collected under leaf litter or stones. The material was exam- ined with the aid of a Motic-C microscope (Xiamen, China). The colour description is based on specimens in 75% ethanol, and the body length is measured from the anterior margin of the cephalic plate to the posterior margin of the postpedal tergite. Type speci- mens are preserved in 75% ethanol and deposited in the School of Life Sciences, Heng- shui University, Hengshui, China (HUSLS). The terminology of the external anatomy follows Bonato et al. (2010). The following abbreviations are used throughout: T, TT tergite, tergites; F femur, S, SS __ sternite, sternites; Ti tibia, C coxa, a anterior, Tr trochanter, m median, P prefemur, p posterior. Taxonomic part Lithobiidae Newport, 1844 Lithobius (Ezembius) tetraspinus sp. n. http://zoobank.org/846D 108B-D41F-4C20-9161-DA2137A17977 Figs 1—7 Material examined. Holotype: ¢ (Fig. 1), body length 11.7 mm, cephalic plate 1.10 mm long, 1.17 mm broad, Balikun County, Hami City, Xinjiang Autonomous Lithobius (Ezembius) tetraspinus, a new species of centipede from northwest China... 205 Region, 43°06'N, 93°00'E, 968 m, a.s.l., 25 July 2006, leg. H. Ma, F. Zhang, S. Liu (HUSLS). Paratypes: 8 299, 1 @, same data as holotype (HUSLS). Etymology. The specific name refers to the second article of the female gonopods with four short, robust spines lying dorsally on the posterior part of the external margin. Diagnosis. A Lithobius (Ezembius) species with body length 9.6—13.3 mm, antennae composed of 19-22 articles, commonly 20+20; 8-10 ocelli on each side, arranged in 3 ir- regular rows, posterior two ocelli comparatively large; T6mésvary’s organ small, subequal in size to the adjoining ocelli; 2+2 coxosternal teeth; porodonts moderately thick, poste- rolateral to the lateralmost tooth; posterior angles of all tergites without triangular projec- tions; coxal pores 2—5, oval to round; female gonopods commonly with 3+3 moderately large, coniform spurs; second article of female gonopods with four short, robust spines lying dorsally on the posterior part of the external margin; gonopods with a simple termi- nal article; male gonopods short and small, with 1—2 long setae on the terminal segment. Description. Body length 9.6—13.3 mm, cephalic plate 1.03-1.24 mm long, 1.06-1.31 mm wide. Colour: basal antennal articles chocolate, distal articles gradually lighter, distalmost article yellow-brown. Tergites yellow-brown, TT 1 and 14 more darker. Cephalic plate and T 15 chocolate. Pleural region pale grey. Sternites pale yellow-brown. Distal part of forcipules red-brown, with basal and proximal parts of forcipules and forcipular coxosternite and sternite 15 yellow-brown. Legs 1-13 pale yellow-brown with greyish hue, legs 14 and 15 red-brown, tarsi of legs yellow-brown. Antennae: 19-22 articles, commonly 20+20 (Fig. 1), only one specimen 20+25 articles; basal article longer than wide, second article markedly longer than wide, with following articles gradually shortening distally. Distalmost article 2.0—2.4 times as long as wide. Abundant setae on antennal surface, gradual increase in density of setae basally to distally to approx. 3-4" article. Cephalic plate smooth, convex, tiny setae emerging from pores scattered sparsely over the entire surface. Frontal marginal ridge of head with shallow anterior median furrow. Setae of various lengths scattered along the marginal ridge of the cephalic plate. Lateral marginal ridge discontinuous. Posterior margin continuous, straight (Fig. 1). Eight to ten oval to rounded oce/li on each side (Fig. 2), arranged in three irregular rows; posterior two ocelli large; ocelli adjacent to the Témésvary organ slightly small. Seriate ocelli domed, translucent, usually darkly pigmented. Témosvary organ at anterolateral margin of the cephalic plate, moderately smaller, subequal in size to the adjacent ocelli (Fig. 2-To). Coxosternite subtrapezoidal (Fig. 3), anterior magin narrow, lateral margins of the coxosternite slightly longer than medial margins. Median diastema moderately deep, V-shaped; anterior margin with 2+2 subtriangular slightly acute teeth. Porodont thick and strong, just posterolateral and separated from the lateral tooth, hardly bulged at base (Fig. 3). Scattered short setae on the ventral side of coxosternite, longer setae near the dental margin, more longer setae near the porodont. Forcipules and forcipular coxosternite without obvious special modifications. 206 Sujian Pei et al. | ZooKeys 741: 203-217 (2018) Figures |-7. Lithobius (Ezembius) tetraspinus sp. n., 1-3 and 7 paratype, male: | habitus, dorsal view, scale bar 1 mm 2 ocelli and Tomésvary’s organ (To), lateral view, scale bar 250 um 3 forcipular segment, ventral view, scale bar 500 um; 4—6 holotype, female: posterior segments and gonopods, ventral view, scale bar 500 um 5 posterior segments and gonopods, ventral view, scale bar 500 um 6 posterior part of the external margin of second article of gonopods, ventral view, scale bar 250 um 7 terminal claw of right gonopod, dorsal view, scale bar 250 pm. All tergites smooth, without wrinkles, dorsum slightly convex, tiny setae emerging from pores scattered sparsely over the entire surface, near the margin with few long se- tae; T 1 narrower posterolaterally than anterolaterally, generally trapezoidal, narrower than the cephalic plate and T 3, cephalic plate slightly wider than T 3. Lateral marginal ridges of all tergites continuous. Posterior marginal ridges of TT 1 and 3 slightly con- cave, continuous, posterior marginal ridges of TT 5, 8, 10, 12 and 14 shallow concave, discontinuous. Posterior angles of tergites generally rounded, without triangular pro- jections. Miniscule setae scattered sparsely over the surface, more numerous setae on anterior and posterior angles of each tergite, with 2—4 long setae on anterior angles and 2—3 long setae on posterior angles of each tergite. Lithobius (Ezembius) tetraspinus, a new species of centipede from northwest China... 207 Sternites smooth, trapezoidal, posterior side narrower than anterior. Setae emerg- ing from sparsely scattered pores on the surface, a pair of approximate symmetrically arranged long setae on both anterior part and posterior part of each sternite. The setae obviously increase in number on S 15, scattered evenly over the surface. Legs robust, tarsal articulation ill-defined on legs 1-13, well defined on legs 14-15. All legs with fairly long curved claws. Legs 1-14 with anterior and posterior accessory spurs; anterior accessory spurs moderately long and slender, forming a moderately small angle with the claw, posterior accessory spurs slightly more robust, forming a compara- tively large angle with the claw. Dense glandular pore on the surface of prefemur, femur, tibia, and tarsi of legs 14 and 15. Leg pair 15 lacking accessory spurs. Long setae sparse- ly scattered over the surface of prefemur, femur, tibia, and tarsi of legs 1-13; more setae on the tarsal surface, many thicker setae scattered evenly over the tarsal surface, setae arranged in one row on the ventral surface of tarsi of legs 1-13, with setae significantly reduced on legs 14 and 15, no thicker setae and setae arranged in one row on the ventral surface of tarsi present. Legs 14 and 15 slightly thicker than the anterior pairs in the fe- male, tarsus 1 3.7—4.7 times as long as wide in legs 15. Legs 15 significantly thicker and stronger than the anterior pairs in the male, with a central longitudinal discontinuous shallow groove on the dorsal of femur, and a black vertical line at the bottom; tarsus 1 3.84.3 times as long as wide in legs 15. Leg plectrotaxy as in table 1. Coxal pores 2-5, round or slightly oval, variable in sizes, arranged in a row; usually 4555, 4554, rarely 3454, 3455, 3343 in females and 2332, 2333 in males. Coxal pore field set in a relatively shallow groove, the coxal pore-field fringe with prominence. Prominence with short to moderately long setae sparsely scattered over the surface. Male. S 15 posterior margin narrower than anterior, posteromedially slightly convex, sparsely covered with long setae, more than the anterior; sternite of genital segment obviously smaller than the female, usually well sclerotized; posterior margin deeply concave between the gonopods, without medial bulge. Long setae scattered on the ventral surface of the genital segment, fewer setae near S 15, fringed with longer setae along the posterior margin. Gonopods short, appearing as a small hemispherical bulge, with 1—2 long setae, apically slightly sclerotized (Fig. 7). Table |. Leg plectrotaxy of L. (E.) tetraspinus sp. n. F Ti ap a ap ide ap ap ap 2p ap ap D ap Letters in brackets indicate variable spines. 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