Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany.
Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany. .
Zootaxa. 2022 Sep 8;5182(5):401-428. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5182.5.1.
Considering the large area of the Indian subcontinent, its known millipede diversity is sparse with only ca. 270 described species in 90 genera, 25 families and 11 orders. So far, not a single polyzoniidan millipede has been described from India. The order Polyzoniida Cook, 1895 is one of the most species-poor millipede groups with less than 80 described species, and includes taxonomically problematic groups, especially in the family Siphonotidae Cook, 1895. Here we report the first representatives of the order Polyzoniida from India, and describe the new genus Theratta n. gen., with the three species Theratta mannavan n. sp., Theratta eravikulam n. sp., and Theratta shola n. sp., using scanning electron microscopy and COI genetic barcoding. Based on the morphological characters we place Theratta n. gen., and the three new species in the tribe Rhinotini Hoffman, 1977 of the family Siphonotidae. The gonopods of the new genus are similar to those of the genus Rhinotus Cook, 1896, but differ from all other Rhinotini in the modification of the podomere II of the anterior telopod, carrying a mesal process on the posterior side and a lamellar process on the anterior side. The three newly described species show a high interspecific genetic distance of 20.925.3%. The specimens were collected from the Shola forests (high altitude montane forests) of the southern Western Ghats in Kerala, India. We suggest that more extensive sampling in this area and in the Indian subcontinent in general will yield more new millipede species for science and expand our understanding of the hitherto neglected Indian millipede fauna.
考虑到印度次大陆的广阔面积，其已知的千足虫多样性相对较少，仅在 90 属、25 科和 11 目中描述了约 270 种。到目前为止，还没有一种 Polyzoniidan 千足虫在印度被描述过。Polyzoniida 目（Cook，1895）是千足虫中物种最贫乏的目之一，不到 80 种，包括分类上有问题的类群，特别是在 Siphonotidae 科（Cook，1895）中。本文首次报道了印度 Polyzoniida 目的代表，并描述了新属 Theratta n. gen.，包括三个新种 Theratta mannavan n. sp.、Theratta eravikulam n. sp. 和 Theratta shola n. sp.，使用扫描电子显微镜和 COI 遗传条形码。根据形态特征，我们将 Theratta n. gen.和三个新种归入 Siphonotidae 科 Rhinotini 族。新属的生殖肢与 Rhinotus 属（Cook，1896）相似，但与所有其他 Rhinotini 类群在前体肢的第二附肢的形态上有所不同，在后侧有一个中突，在前侧有一个板状突。这三个新描述的物种在种间遗传距离上显示出很高的差异，为 20.925.3%。标本是从印度喀拉拉邦南部西高止山脉的 Shola 森林（高山山地森林）中采集的。我们建议在该地区和整个印度次大陆进行更广泛的采样，这将为科学带来更多新的千足虫物种，并扩大我们对迄今被忽视的印度千足虫动物群的理解。
