Two new species of the dwarf centipede genus Foddai, Bonato, Pereira & Minelli, 2003 (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Mecistocephalidae) from Japan.

The genus Foddai, Bonato, Pereira & Minelli, 2003 is a monotypic genus established on the basis of the possibly introduced species Foddai, Bonato, Pereira & Minelli, 2003, from New York, USA. In the present study, in a field survey conducted throughout Japan, -like specimens were collected from Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. These specimens clearly showed the diagnostic characteristics of the genus but were morphologically distinct from . Furthermore, morphological analysis and DNA barcoding revealed that these specimens could be assigned to two distinct undescribed species. On the basis of these results, Tsukamoto, and Tsukamoto, are described. The three species can be distinguished from each other on the basis of the following combination of characteristics: presence or absence of a pair of smooth or weakly areolate areas along the posterior part of the paraclypeal sutures; the width-to-length ratio of the denticle on the trochanteroprefemur; the pigmentation of the denticle on the tarsungulum. Moreover, the field survey resulted in the collection of exclusively female specimens of Tsukamoto, , which shows the possibility of parthenogenesis of this species.