A revision of dragon millipedes III: the new genus Gigaxytes gen. nov., with the description of three new species (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae)

  • Ruttapon Srisonchai Biological Sciences Program, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
  • Henrik Enghoff Natural History Museum of Denmark
  • Natdanai Likhitrakarn Maejo University, San Sai
  • Somsak Panha Chulalongkorn University, Patumwan, Bangkok
Keywords: Dragon millipede, endemic, new species, taxonomy, Thailand

Abstract

The ‘gigas’ group of dragon millipedes, formerly placed in the genus Desmoxytes Chamberlin, 1923, is revised and assigned to the new genus Gigaxytes gen. nov. Desmoxytes gigas Golovatch & Enghoff, 1994 is the type species of the new genus and is redescribed as G. gigas (Golovatch & Enghoff, 1994) gen. et comb nov. Three new species are described: G. fusca gen et sp. nov. from Thailand and Myanmar; G. parvoterga gen et sp. nov. and G. suratensis gen et sp. nov. from Thailand. All Gigaxytes species are endemic to small distribution areas in limestone habitats in South Thailand and South Myanmar. Illustrations of external morphological characters and an identification key to all known species are provided as well as a distribution map.

Author Biographies

Ruttapon Srisonchai, Biological Sciences Program, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
Biological Sciences Program, Faculty of Science
Henrik Enghoff, Natural History Museum of Denmark

Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen

Natdanai Likhitrakarn, Maejo University, San Sai

Division of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agricultural Production

Somsak Panha, Chulalongkorn University, Patumwan, Bangkok
Animal Systematics Research Unit, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science

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Published
2018-09-27
How to Cite
Srisonchai, R., Enghoff, H., Likhitrakarn, N., & Panha, S. (2018). A revision of dragon millipedes III: the new genus Gigaxytes gen. nov., with the description of three new species (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae). European Journal of Taxonomy, (463). https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2018.463