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Three chilopod species are recorded as new for the Maltese archipelago, and two species are recorded for the first time from the island of Comino. The local distribution of previously-recorded species is updated with new data. A check-list of the twenty-five species occurring on the islands is also provided.

On the evening of June 7th, 2019, Augusto Vigna Taglianti died in Rome at the age of almost 76 years, after a long illness, tenderly assisted by his wife Giuliana. Formerly a Professor of Entomology at the Sapienza University of Rome, he was a Full Member of the Italian National Academy of Entomology and of the National Academy of Sciences (the “Accademia dei XL”) [...]

We demonstrate how a classical taxonomic description of a new species can be enhanced by applying new generation molecular methods, and novel computing and imaging technologies. A cave-dwelling centipede, Eupolybothrus cavernicolus Komerički & Stoev sp. n. (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae), found in a remote karst region in Knin, Croatia, is the first eukaryotic species for which, in addition to the traditional morphological description, we provide a fully sequenced transcriptome, a DNA barcode, detailed anatomical X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) scans, and a movie of the living specimen to document important traits of its ex-situ behaviour. By employing micro-CT scanning in a new species for the first time, we create a high-resolution morphological and anatomical dataset that allows virtual reconstructions of the specimen and subsequent interactive manipulation to test the recently introduced ‘cybertype’ notion. In addition, the transcriptome was recorded with a total of 67,785 scaffolds, having an average length of 812 bp and N50 of 1,448 bp (see GigaDB). Subsequent annotation of 22,866 scaffolds was conducted by tracing homologs against current available databases, including Nr, SwissProt and COG. This pilot project illustrates a workflow of producing, storing, publishing and disseminating large data sets associated with a description of a new taxon. All data have been deposited in publicly accessible repositories, such as GigaScience GigaDB, NCBI, BOLD, Morphbank and Morphosource, and the respective open licenses used ensure their accessibility and re-usability.

Endogeophilus ichnusae gen. et sp. nov. (Chilopoda: Geophilidae sensu stricto) is described based on three specimens from two localities in south-western Sardinia, examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The new centipede resembles the rare Ibero-Pyrenean genus Galliophilus Ribaut & Brolemann, 1927 in some features, especially in the forcipular segment, and the temperate European species Geophilus electricus (Linnaeus, 1758) in other features, especially in the ultimate leg-bearing segment. However, the true affinities of E. ichnusae gen. et sp. nov. are uncertain, because the new species departs significantly from the majority of geophilids for the higher number of legs (91–107 pairs in the specimens examined), the slender trunk segments (the sternites being longer than wide), the relatively stout legs (the tarsus being only about twice as long as wide) and the very short setae (≤ 15 mm) scattered on the body surface. All these features are probably derived and suggest adaptation to a more strictly endogeic habit than other geophilids.

A common terminology for the external morphological characters of centipedes (Chilopoda) is proposed. Terms are selected from the alternatives used in the English literature, preferring those most frequently used or those that have been introduced explicitly. A total of 330 terms are defined and illustrated, and another ca 500 alternatives are listed.

The centipede genus Eupolybothrus Verhoeff, 1907 in North Africa is revised. A new cavernicolous species, E. kahfi Stoev & Akkari, sp. n., is described from a cave in Jebel Zaghouan, northeast Tunisia. Morphologically, it is most closely related to E. nudicornis (Gervais, 1837) from North Africa and Southwest Europe but can be readily distinguished by the long antennae and leg-pair 15, a conical dorso-median protuberance emerging from the posterior part of prefemur 15, and the shape of the male first genital sternite. Molecular sequence data from the cytochrome c oxidase I gene (mtDNA–5’ COI-barcoding fragment) exhibit 19.19% divergence between E. kahfi and E. nudicornis, an interspecific value comparable to those observed among four other species of Eupolybothrus which, combined with a low intraspecific divergence (0.3-1.14%), supports the morphological diagnosis of E. kahfi as a separate species. This is the first troglomorphic myriapod to be found in Tunisia, and the second troglomorph lithobiomorph centipede known from North Africa. E. nudicornis is re-described based on abundant material from Tunisia and its post-embryonic development, distribution and habitat preferences recorded. E. cloudsley-thompsoni Turk, 1955, a nominal species based on Tunisian type material, is placed in synonymy with E. nudicornis. To comply with the latest technological developments in publishing of biological information, the paper implements new approaches in cybertaxonomy, including database and interactive key publishing, georeferencing of all localities via Google Earth, and ZooBank, GenBank and MorphBank registration of datasets. An interactive key to all valid species of Eupolybothrus is made with DELTA software.

A new genus Diphyonyx is proposed here for a previously unrecognised lineage of geophilid centipedes. It is distinct from other geophilids in its unique combination of morphological characters, including the peculiar shape of the pretarsus of the legs on the anterior part of the trunk. The type species D. conjungens (Verhoeff, 1898), comb. n., is redescribed in detail and its geographical distribution updated (Balkan Peninsula, Anatolia, Crimea). Included in Diphyonyx are also D. sukacevi (Folkmanová, 1956), comb. n., and D. garutti (Folkmanová & Dobroruka, 1960), comb. n., both from southern Russia. D. garutti is raised here to species rank.

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