Revision of the Centipede Genus Hemiscolopendra Kraepelin, 1903: Description of H. marginata (Say, 1821) and possible misidentifications as Scolopendra spp.; proposal of Akymnopellis, n. gen.

Full title: Revision of the Centipede Genus Hemiscolopendra Kraepelin, 1903: Description of H. marginata (Say, 1821) and possible misidentifications as Scolopendra spp.; proposal of Akymnopellis, n. gen., and redescriptions of its South American components (Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae: Scolopendrinae).

Abstract: Hemiscolopendra Kraepelin, 1903, is a monotypic genus. Its sole species, H. marginata (Say, 1821), possibly misidentified in older publications as Scolopendra morsitans L., 1758, and S. pachygnatha Pocock, 1905, occurs from the southern Atlantic Coast of the United States to west Texas, in the east/west dimension, and, north/south, from southern Ohio-Illinois to Chiapas, Mexico. Individuals throughout this area vary through the same limits, proving that they are conspecific. Akymnopellis, n. gen., is erected to accommodate the South American species previously assigned to Hemiscolopendra – chilensis (Gervais, 1847), laevigata (Porat, 1876), and platei (Attems, 1903). Two new synonymies are proposed – Otostigma michaelseni Attems, 1903, under A. laevigata, and Hemiscolopendra perdita Chamberlin, 1955, under A. platei.

Recommended citation: Shelley, R. M. (2008): Revision of the Centipede Genus Hemiscolopendra Kraepelin, 1903: Description of H. marginata (Say, 1821) and possible misidentifications as Scolopendra spp.; proposal of Akymnopellis, n. gen., and redescriptions of its South American components (Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae: Scolopendrinae). International Journal of Myriapodology, 1 (2): 171-204. https://doi.org/10.1163/187525408X395931