Polydesmida: Dalodesmidae: Kebodesmus

Kebodesmus zonarius Mesibov and Rodriguez, 2020: female (left) and male (right)

Kebodesmus zonarius Mesibov and Rodriguez, 2020

This H+20 burrowing species was first collected in 2019 in Eucalyptus delegatensis forest near the Highland Lakes Road, at ca 800 m on the Great Western Tiers. It has not (yet) been found at lower or higher elevations near the Road, whose easily accessible forest has been repeatedly sampled for litter invertebrates since the 1970s. The gonopod structure in K. zonarius is unlike that of any other Tasmanian dalodesmid, but is similar to that seen in a South American dalodesmid genus, Abatodesmus.

The genus name honors Kevin Bonham, who first collected this species and recognised the unusual nature of the gonopod structure.

 

Posterior view of gonopods (left), medial view of left gonopod (right)

Kebodesmus zonarius superficially resembles a Paredrodesmus species, but both males and females of K. zonarius are easily distinguished by the H+20 body plan and normal pore formula. It may be a coincidence, but the only known localities for K. zonarius are on the eastern edge of the Paredrodesmus range (see map below at left).

 

Map at left shows all known Paredrodesmus localities as small dots, and the known Kebodesmus localities as a large dot.

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