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| Paracortina kyrang Nguyen, Stoev, Nguyen & Vu, 2023 |
Abstract
A new millipede species, Paracortina kyrang sp. nov., is described from a cave in Cao Bang Province, northern Vietnam. The new species is diagnosed by having an extraordinarily long projection on the head of males, reduced eyes, a gonocoxite with two processes, a long and slender gonotelopodite with two long, clavate prefemoroidal processes densely covered with long macrosetae apically, and with a distal, reverse, short spine on mesal side, and a rather sinuous distal part of the telopodite. This is the third species of the genus that is known from Vietnam. A brief comparison of some secondary sexual characters is made.
Keywords: Biodiversity, cave fauna, northern Vietnam, southern China
Taxonomy
Order Callipodida Pocock, 1894
Family Paracortinidae Wang & Zhang, 1993
Genus Paracortina Wang & Zhang, 1993
Paracortina kyrang sp. nov.
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| Paracortina kyrang sp. nov., holotype A anterior body in ventral view B anterior body in lateral view C head in dorsal view D segments 6–12 in dorsal view. Abbreviation: lp = a large projection on head. |
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| Paracortina kyrang sp. nov. A entrance of Ky Rang Cave B habitat of the species C, D habitus, in situ. Images not to scale. |
Diagnosis: The new species is well distinguished from all congeners by the strongly modified head in males bearing a unique apically bent projection. Body composed of 68–74 pleurotergites +telson, eyes reduced, composed of 19 or 20 ommatidia in two or three rows. Gonocoxa with an anterior long spiniform process (a), as long as ca 80% of telopodite stem, and a rather slender, much shorter, cephalad process (b). Process a with a cephalad lobe distally, process b about 1/3 the length of telopodite. Telopodite with two long, clavate prefemoroidal processes (cp), densely covered with long macrosetae apically. Telopodite long, slender, apically twisted laterad, with a distal, reverse, short spine. Distal part of telopodite rather sinuous, narrowed at the base, then smoothly widened at its top, to narrow sharply finally at the solenomere (sl) and parasolenomere (ps).
The new species can be keyed out into the first branch in Liu et al.’s (2015) key for identification of the species of Paracortina, with the clustering species having a pair of prefemoroidal clavate processes (cp) on the gonopods: P. thallina, P. stimula, P. leptoclada, P. voluta, P. serrata, P. viriosa, and P. carinata (all from southern China).
Etymology: The species epithet “kyrang” is a noun in apposition for the type locality, Ky Rang Cave.
Anh D. Nguyen, Pavel Stoev, Lien T. P. Nguyen and Tam T. Vu. 2023. A New Species of Paracortina from A Vietnamese Cave, with Remarkable Secondary Sexual Characters in Males (Callipodida, Paracortinidae). ZooKeys. 1149: 181-195. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1149.99651
