Sphaerobelum Verhoeff 1924

Key to species of Sphaerobelum (based mainly on male characters): 1. Anterior telopod with 3 telopoditomeres................................................................... 2 - Anterior telopod with 4 telopoditomeres.................................................................... 5 2. Tergites shiny, glabrous. Process of podomere 2 of posterior telopod swollen only at inner margin. Endotergum with 3–4 dense rows of short marginal bristles.................................................... S. clavigerum Verhoeff, 1924 - Tergites hairy, process of podomere 2 of posterior telopod strongly swollen apically, spherical, broader than base of podomere.................................................................................................... 3 3. Inner margin of femur extended, with teeth. Lateral margin of prefemur with a sharp projection juxtaposed to coxal process. Body coloration black. Head smooth. Process of podomere 2 of posterior telopods truncated. Operculum of vulva two-horned, both horns blunt.................................................................... S. bicorne Attems, 1938 - Inner margin of femur smooth, prefemur without a process. Body coloration dirty olive-brown; head punctured and densely hirsute......................................................................... S. hirsutum Verhoeff, 1924 4. Inner margin of femur extended, with teeth (Figs 2D, 5D). Locking carina on anal shield short......................... 6 - Inner margin of femur smooth. Locking carina on anal shield very long........................................... 7 5. Body coloration dark olive, posterior margin uniformly light brown, antennae and legs conspicuously orange (Fig. 1A). Prefemur without lateral projection (Fig. 2D). Apical margins of vulval operculum equally converging towards a mesal tip (Fig. 2I). Tip of laterotergite 1 slightly extended, well-rounded. Male antennomere 6 thickened (Fig. 3A)......... S. cattiense sp. nov. - Body coloration dark chestnut brown, posterior tergal margins black, legs dark brown, tips light brown (Fig. 1B). Lateral margin of prefemur with a sharp projection juxtaposed to coxal process (Fig. 5D). Apical margin of vulval operculum recessed centrally (Fig. 5H). Tip of laterotergite 1 slightly extended, sharp. Male antennomere 6 axe-shaped (Fig. 6A).............................................................................................. S. konkakinhense sp. nov. 6. Podomere 3 of anterior telopod distally with a lateral extension; podomere 4 of posterior telopod distally with an incurved process overlapping with process of podomere 2. Marginal setae of terga not reaching posterior margin.................................................................................................... S. separatum Attems, 1953 - Podomere 3 of anterior telopod cylindrical, without lateral extension; podomere 4 of posterior telopod without incurved pro- cess, but with 3 separate spines. Marginal setae of terga reaching the posterior margin................................................................................................... S. truncatum Wongthamwanich et al., 2012
Published as part of Semenyuk, Irina, Golovatch, Sergei I. & Wesener, Thomas, 2018, Four new species of giant pill-millipedes from Vietnam (Sphaerotheriida, Zephroniidae), pp. 535-550 in Zootaxa 4459 (3) on page 543, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4459.3.7, http://zenodo.org/record/1458879
{"references":["Verhoeff, K. W. (1924) Results of Dr. E. Mjoberg's Swedish scientific expedition to Australia 1910 - 1913. 34. Myriapoda: Diplopoda. Arkif for zoologi, 16 (5), 1 - 142.","Attems, C. (1938) Die von Dr. C. Dawydoff in franzosisch Indochina gesammelten Myriopoden. Memoires du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, New Series, 6 (2), 187 - 353.","Attems, C. (1953) Myriopoden von Indochina, Expedition von Dr. C. Dawydoff (1938 - 1939) Memoires du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, New Series, A, 5, 133 - 230.","Wongthamwanich, N., Panha, S., Sierwald, P., Wesener, T. & Thirakupt, K. (2012) A new species of the giant pill-millipede genus Sphaerobelum Verhoeff, 1924 from northern Thailand, with an extensive description and molecular characters (Diplopoda: Sphaerotheriida: Zephroniidae). Zootaxa, 3220, 29 - 43."]}