A new schendylid centipede (Myriapoda: Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha) from the Bolivian Amazon Forest

Abstract

Schendylops grismadoi sp. nov., a new schendylid centipede (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha) from the Amazon forest of east-central Bolivia (Santa Cruz Department, Guarayos Province) is described and illustrated based on the holotype fe-male. The new species is characterized by having an uninterrupted series of ventral pore-fields, from first to penultimate sternite inclusive (undivided on anterior and posterior sternites, divided in two subsymmetrical areas on the intermediate); these combined traits being shared by five other Neotropical species currently included in the genus Schendylops Cook, 1899, i.e., S. tropicus (Brölemann & Ribaut, 1911) (from French Guiana), S. inquilinus Pereira, Uliana & Minelli, 2007 (from Brazil), S. coscaroni (Pereira & Minelli, 2006) (from Brazil), S. demelloi (Verhoeff, 1938) (from Brazil), and S. parahybae (Chamberlin, 1914) (from Brazil). The new taxon is differentiated from all aforementioned species by having the anterior margin of cephalic plate conspicuously notched in the middle, dentate lamellae of mandibles divided in two blocks, and basal internal edge of forcipular tarsungulum with a small pigmented tooth; it is included in a key which will enable the identification of all known Neotropical members having sternal pore-fields all along the trunk (including those with an interrupted series on some mid-body sternites). S. grismadoi is only the fifth species of geophilomorph centipede recorded from Bolivia.