A new species of the hitherto monospecific genus Pleonoporus Attems, 1938 (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida, Odontopygidae)

Zookeys. 2022 Aug 15:1117:189-202. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1117.87765. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The hitherto monospecific genus Pleonoporus is revised based on the syntypes of P.robustus Attems, 1938, housed in Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHMW), as well as on specimens of what we interpret as a new species of the genus, Pleonoporustanzanicus sp. nov., collected in Tanzania and housed in the Museum of Nature - Zoology, Leibnitz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (ZMH) for more than a century. Both species are described based on habitus and gonopod structures and illustrated with micrographs, whereas scanning electron microscope images are also provided for the new species. This paper further highlights the importance of natural history collections for taxonomic research and studies on species diversity in general.

Keywords: Africa; gonopods; natural history collections; new species; syntypes; taxonomy.