Morogorius pallidus Verhoeff, 1941

Enghoff, Henrik, Ngute, Alain Senghor K., Mnendendo, Hamidu R., Kivambe, Exaud E., Mhagawale, Waziri, Malanda, Robin C., Mpoto, Athuman & Marshall, Andrew R., 2025, A mountain of millipedes XII. The Chelodesmidae of the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania (Diplopoda, Polydesmida), European Journal of Taxonomy 997, pp. 210-255 : 233

Morogorius pallidus Verhoeff, 1941

Diagnosis

Differs from other species of Morogorius by the deep division of the parasolenomere into a long slender branch and a considerably shorter daggerlike branch, in combination with a well-developed ‘shoulder’ of the solenomere ( Verhoeff 1941: fig. 21; Hoffman 1977: fig. 11).

Material examined (total 1 ♀)

Paratype

TANZANIA • 1 ♀; “Tanganyika”; “1123”; ZMB 2696 .

Descriptive notes

Body length ca 23 mm; max. width 3.0 mm. 20 ‘segments’, i.e., 18 podous + 1 apodous ring + telson.

A side-by side comparison with a female of Morogorius divisus Enghoff sp. nov. shows the following differences:

– the posterior margin of the collum is straight, not ‘trapezoid’ (cp. Fig. 3C );

– the peritremata are clearly, not indistinctly set off from the lateral margin of the paranota (cp. Fig. 3E ).

Details of spinnerets not visible (no SEM).

Remarks

Maybe this female is not conspecific with the holotype male and maybe even belong to another genus?

In any case, there is no doubt that the gonopods of M. pallidus as described by Verhoeff (1941) and Hoffman (1977) are ‘congeneric’ with those of the new species of Morogorius described above.

Figures

Fig. 3. Morogorius divisus Enghoff sp. nov., paratype, ♂ (NHMD 1184702). A. Head, right antenna, collum and rings 2–3, oblique view.B. Clypeus and labrum. C. Head, collum and rings 2–3, dorsal view. D. Microsculpture of prozonite, ring 9. E. Ring 9, dorsal view. F. Rings 8–9, lateral view. G. Stigmata of ring 8, lateral view. H. Left paranotum and ozopore of ring 9, lateral view. Abbreviations: asp = anterior spiracle; eg = epicranial groove; lg = labrogenal offset; pe = peritreme with ozopore; pop = posterior spiracle; ts = transverse sulcus. Scale bars: A, C, E–F = 0.5 mm; B, G–H = 0.1 mm; D = 0.05 mm.