@article {437, title = {Symphylella patrickmuelleri sp. nov. (Myriapoda: Symphyla): The oldest known Symphyla and first fossil record of Scolopendrellidae from Cretaceous Burmese amber}, journal = {Creatceous Research}, volume = {84}, year = {2017}, month = {22/12/2017}, pages = {258-263}, abstract = {

Symphyla are one of the least known of the four classes of the Myriapoda. While Symphyla are dated to have split from the other myriapods at about 430\–593 Ma, there are no fossil specimens known aside from seven specimens of the family Scutigerellidae preserved in Dominican and Baltic amber, with a maximum age of ca. 54 Ma. Here we describe the first fossil representative of the second Symphyla family, the Scolopendrellidae, Symphylella patrickmuelleri sp. nov., from Burmese amber (ca. 99 Ma). Utilizing micro-computed tomography (mCT) technology, as well as light microscopy and multi-layer photography, our specimen, despite being juvenile, can be assigned to the genus Symphylella Silvestri, 1902, a species-rich Recent genus that has an almost worldwide distribution. The specimen is preserved after ejecting long threads of silk from its large spinnerets. Our findings show that the recent genera and families of the Symphyla diverged already before the end of the Mesozoic

}, keywords = {Burmese amber, Cretaceous, CT scan, Mesozoic, soil arthropod}, issn = {0195-6671}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.11.018}, author = {Moritz, Leif and Wesener, Thomas} } @article {436, title = {Integrative description of two new species of Malagasy chirping giant pill-millipedes, genus Sphaeromimus (Diplopoda: Sphaerotheriida: Arthrosphaeridae)}, journal = {European Journal of Taxonomy}, volume = {381}, year = {2017}, month = {15/12/2017}, pages = {1-25}, abstract = {

The species-rich giant pill-millipedes (Sphaerotheriida) often represent a microendemic component of Madagascar\’s mega-invertebrate fauna. Of the chirping genus Sphaeromimus de Saussure \& Zehntner, 1902, ten species have been described. Here, we describe two new species of Sphaeromimus integratively, combining light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, DNA barcoding and micro-CT technology for the first time in a taxonomic description of a giant pill-millipede. S. kalambatritra sp. nov. and S. midongy sp. nov. are the first giant pill-millipedes collected and described from the mountainous rainforests of Kalambatritra and Midongy. Both species show island gigantism compared to their congeners. Our analysis of the mitochondrial COI gene shows that the two species are related to one another with a moderate genetic distance (9.4\%), while they are more closely related to an undetermined specimen from the forest of Vevembe (6.3\% and 8.4\%). They stand in a basal position with S. ivohibe Wesener, 2014 and S. musicus (de Saussure \& Zehntner, 1897). The four aforementioned species share a high number of stridulation ribs on the male harp. Our micro-CT analysis provides a look into the head of S. kalambatritra sp. nov. and shows that non-destructive CT methods are a useful tool for studying the inner morphology of giant pill-millipedes.

}, keywords = {biodiversity, COI, island gigantism, Kalambatritra, Midongy}, issn = {2118-9773}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2017.381}, url = {https://europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/view/506}, author = {Moritz, Leif and Wesener, Thomas} }