Diagnosis follows Rosenmejer & Enghoff (2021: 562, 567)[1]:
Prionopetalum nessiae differs from congeners by the combination of a laterobasad coxal spine, a simple, unbranched distal telomere process, and a long, slender, distally only very slightly expanded proximal telomere process. The species is similar to Prionopetalum clarum (Chamberlin, 1927), with which it shares most gonopodal characters: the shape (straight, pointed) and direction (laterobasad) of the coxal spine; the simple distal telomeral process; and the shape of the proximal telomere process. The two species differ in body diameter: P. clarum = 5.5 mm (only one male described, though), P. nessiae = 6.3–7.7 mm, and in the gonopod coxa profile. In P. clarum the disto-lateral margin of the coxa is almost straight, only slightly sinuate, whereas in P. nessiae it is distinctly convex; in P. clarum the mesal margin of the distal part of the coxa has a shallow, regularly convex expansion, whereas P. nessiae at this place has a larger subrectangular expansion with an irregularly sinuate mesal margin. The gonopod coxa profile of P. nessiae is very similar to that of Prionopetalum aculeatum Attems, 1914, in which, however, the proximal telomere process is strongly expanded and asymmetrical.
References
- , «A new giant species of the millipede genus Prionopetalum Attems, 1909 from Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida, Odontopygidae)», Zootaxa, vol. 4950, n.º 3, pp. 561-570, 2021.