Amastigogonus Brölemann, 1913

Genus Amastigogonus Brölemann, 1913 View in CoL

Amastigogonus verreauxii ( Gervais, 1847) View in CoL n. comb. ( Fig. 3 View FIG )

Iulus Verreauxii Gervais, 1847: 175 .

TYPE MATERIAL. — N° GA 031, 1 holotype.

TYPE LOCALITY. — The sample is stated to derive from the slopes of Mont Wellington, Tasmania (which is near Hobart), collected by Jules Verreaux.

REMARKS

Re-examination of the male holotype ( holotype status presumed from the original description that gives variation neither in leg counts nor size has revealed that this species unquestionably is referable to Amastigogonus Brölemann, 1913 . This small genus has hitherto contained three valid species, all apparently endemic in Tasmania (cf. Hoffman 1980). Further, Iulus verreauxii has long been recognized as a cambaloid, yet without any taxonomic specification ( Jeekel 1981). So this is the first formal reallocation of this enigmatic species since its original description.

Judged from the illustrations presented here ( Fig. 3 View FIG ), A. verreauxii seems to have no junior synonyms, being distinguished by the presence of a very faint axial line along the promentum (comparable to an incomplete line only known in A. hardyi [Chamberlin, 1920] as illustrated by Verhoeff [1944] for its junior synonym A. nicholsii Verhoeff, 1944 [cf. Hoffman 1972]), the peculiar shape of the terminal telopoditomeres of the male leg-pair 1, the subequally long branches of the anterior gonopods and, above all, by the securiform distal end of the solenomerite (vs long and flagelliform in the type-species A. tasmanianus Brölemann, 1913 or shorter and flagelliform both in A. hardyi and A. fossuliger Verhoeff, 1944 [cf. Brölemann 1913; Verhoeff 1944; Hoffman 1972]).

The rudimentary posterior gonopods ( Fig. 3H View FIG ) appear to be attached like forceps to the wall at the very base of the caudomedian ridges of the anterior gonopods ( Fig. 3E View FIG ).