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The hitherto monotypic diplopod genus Annamina contains now four species, including the revised typespecies A. xanthoptera Attems, 1937, as well as A. attemsi sp. n., A. irinae sp. n. and A. mikhaljovae sp. n., all from central or southern Vietnam. The genus is rediagnosed and a key to its constituent species given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Myriapoda and Onychophora collection dataset inventories the occurrence records of the collection of myriapods and onychophorans in the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris. The dataset currently consists of 202 lots of onychophorans, representing all of those present, and almost ten thousand (9 795) lots of myriapods, representing 33 to 40% of the MNHN Myriapoda collection. This collection, which is of key historic importance, represents the results of two centuries of myriapod and onychophoran studies. The sources of the collection are worldwide, with a high representation for metropolitan France for the myriapods. None of the occurrences are yet georeferenced. Access to the dataset via the data portals of the MNHN and the GBIF has been made possible through the e-ReColNat project (ANR-11-INBS-0004). The Myriapoda and Onychophora collection of MNHN is actively expanding, hence both the collection and dataset are in continuous growth. The dataset can be accessed through the portals of GBIF at http://www.gbif.org/dataset/3287044c-8c48-4ad6-81d4-4908071bc8db and the MNHN at http://science. mnhn.fr/institution/mnhn/collection/my/item/search/form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Oriental Region, the large, basically Northern Hemisphere family Trichopolydesmidae is shown to currently comprise 18 genera and 43 species. Based mainly on gonopod structure, all of them, as well as the whole family, are (re)diagnosed, including five new genera and seven new species. These new taxa are keyed, also being the first to be described from Indochina in general and from Vietnam in particular: Aporodesmella gen. n., with three species: A. securiformis sp. n. (the type species), A. similis sp. n. and A. tergalis sp. n., as well as the following four monotypic genera: Deharvengius gen. n., with D. bedosae sp. n., Gonatodesmus gen. n., with G. communicans sp. n., Helicodesmus gen. n., with H. anichkini sp. n., and Monstrodesmus gen. n., with M. flagellifer sp. n. In addition, Cocacolaria hauseri Hoffman, 1987, hitherto known only from New Ireland Island, Papua New Guinea, is redescribed based on material from Vanuatu whence it is recorded for the first time. One of the new genera, Gonatodesmus gen. n., provides a kind of transition or evolutionary bridge between Trichopolydesmidae and Opisotretidae, thus reinforcing the assignment of these two families to the single superfamily Trichopolydesmoidea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The small, basically Oriental family Opisotretidae is rediagnosed, reclassified, and shown to comprise the following seven genera, all keyed: Carlotretus Hoffman, 1980, with two species, including C. triramus sp. n. from southern China; Corypholophus Attems, 1938, with two species, one in Vietnam, the other in the Ryukyus, Japan; Martensodesmus Golovatch, 1987, with eight species, all keyed, including M. cattienensis sp. n. from southern Vietnam, as well as M. bedosae sp. n. and M. spiniger sp. n. from southern China; Opisotretus Attems, 1907, with seven species, all keyed, including O. beroni sp. n. and O. hagen sp. n., both from Papua New Guinea, O. deharvengi sp. n. from Sulawesi, Indonesia, and O. spinosus sp. n. from Nusakambangan Island, off Java, Indonesia; Opisthoporodesmus Silvestri, 1899, with six nominate species; Retrodesmus Chamberlin, 1945, with two species, i.e. the type-species R. dammermani Chamberlin, 1945, from Java, Indonesia, revised from the holotype, and R. cavernicola sp. n., from Papua New Guinea; and Solaenaulus Attems, 1940, with two species. Comments are presented on the family's possible relationships and palaeogeographic history. Instead of being considered as the sole component of the superfamily Opisotretoidea, the Opisotretidae is believed here to form one of the families of the diverse superfamily Trichopolydesmoidea, perhaps the sister-group to, if not immediately derived from, the pantropical family Fuhrmannodesmidae. The origin of Opisotretidae, previously dated as far back as the Triassic (220 Ma) in relation to the fragmentation of eastern Gondwanaland, mainly in the region of present-day Indonesia, could have had nothing to do with Gondwanaland. Opisotretids might have originated in mainland Southeast Asia well within the Cenozoic, with subsequent dispersals along the Himalayas in the West and across Indonesia (including New Guinea) in the East, also reaching as far north as the Ryukyus, Japan and Guangxi, southern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new species of the families Polyxenidae and Synxenidae, are described from Table Mountain National Park, South Africa. Propolyxenus squamatus sp. n. (Polyxenidae) has tergites I-X mostly covered by scale-shaped trichomes directed caudally, a character previously known only in Synxenidae. The structure of scale-shaped dorsal trichomes is different to that of the scales in Phryssonotus and Condexenus species. Phryssonotus brevicapensis sp. n. (Synxenidae) is the only known species of the genus Phryssonotus having 11 tergites, (including collum and telson) and 15 pairs of legs, as in Condexenus biramipalpus Nguyen Duy-Jacquemin, 2006. These two species therefore appear to occupy an intermediate position between Phryssonotus (12 tergites) and Polyxenoidea (maximum of 11 tergites). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of stadia during post-embryonic development is supposed to be fixed in most species of the millipede order Polydesmida. For the first time since 1928, additional moults were observed in two males of Polydesmus angustus Latzel, 1884 reared in the laboratory. These 'elongatus' males sensu Verhoeff reached stadium IX instead of stadium VIII, with addition of a further podous ring (32 pairs of legs). One male had well-developed gonopods at stadium VIII, which regressed at stadium IX; the other had no gonopods at stadium VIII, which developed at stadium IX. The two cases correspond to the 'regressionis' and 'progressionis' forms described by Verhoeff in Polydesmus complanatus (Linnaeus, 1761), which confirms entirely his results. Additional moults appear to be associated with small body sizes and possible underlying mechanisms are discussed. Comparisons between millipede orders indicate that post-embryonic development is less strictly canalized in Polydesmida than in Chordeumatida. This implies that the adult number of body rings is of limited taxonomic value in Polydesmida and should not be viewed as a character of generic importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fifth species of the millipede order Siphonocryptida, Hirudicryptus quintumelementum sp. nov., is described from Nepal. With this, the surprisingly disjunct distribution of the order with its four former species from Sumatra, the Macaronesian Islands, Malaya and Taiwan, has become connected through the relatively young mountain chains of the Himalayas. The new species shows the typical morphology of the order, with very little variation in external characters (in lack of male specimens). This may be the result of the conservative evolutionary history of the surviving small, widely separated, remnant populations of a once coherent, ancient range. The female vulva of the new species is described, and illustrated for the first time in the order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]