Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (ZFMK); Leibniz Institute for the study of biodiversity change (LIB); Section Myriapoda; Adenauerallee 127; D-53113 Bonn; Germany.
Zootaxa. 2024 Mar 8;5419(4):545-562. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5419.4.4.
Thailand hosts a very rich but underexplored giant pill-millipede (Sphaerotheriida) fauna, with 11 of its 13 species described in the last three years. Currently, all known Thai giant pill-millipedes belong to the genera Zephronia Gray, 1832 (nine species) and Sphaerobelum Verhoeff, 1924 (four species). Here we describe the first two species of the genus Prionobelum Verhoeff, 1924 (previously restricted to Vietnam and China), Prionobelum inthanonense n. sp. and P. naevium n. sp. from Thailand. The species occur at Thailands highest mountain (2500 m) Doi Inthanon and the lowland rainforests at Bang Lang National Park touching the border with Malaysia. Both species are described integratively, utilizing light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy as well as DNA barcoding. Both new species of Prionobelum differ from other Zephroniidae species, as well as from one another, by more than 20% p-distance in the COI barcoding gene suggesting that potential closer related species are still awaiting discovery.
泰国拥有非常丰富但尚未充分研究的巨型 pill-millipede（球蚬科）动物群，在过去三年中描述了其 13 种中的 11 种。目前，所有已知的泰国巨型 pill-millipedes 都属于 Zephronia Gray，1832 属（9 种）和 Sphaerobelum Verhoeff，1924（4 种）。在这里，我们描述了 Zephroniidae 属的前两个物种，Prionobelum Verhoeff，1924（以前仅限于越南和中国），Prionobelum inthanonense n. sp. 和 P. naevium n. sp. 来自泰国。这些物种出现在泰国最高峰（2500 米）因他侬山和靠近马来西亚边境的邦朗国家公园的低地雨林中。这两个新种的 Prionobelum 在 COI 条形码基因上的差异超过 20%，与其他 Zephroniidae 物种以及彼此之间的差异表明，潜在的亲缘关系更近的物种仍有待发现。
