Polydesmida: Dalodesmidae: Setoisenoton

Setoisenoton pallidus Mesibov, 2010

This distinctive H+19 species, only 5 mm long, is locally very abundant in rainforest leaf litter on the West Coast. Its range may extend into the Southwest. The strange genus name is Notonesiotes spelled backwards. Notonesiotes aucklandensis is a similar-looking dalodesmid found in the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand. The two millipedes differ in having the sperm-carrying channel on the gonopod ending on opposite elements of the forked gonopod tip: anterior in Setoisienoton, posterior in Notonesiotes.

 

Image at right is close-up of gonopod tips

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