Scaptodesmus manengouba, Fiemapong & Blandenier & Tamesse & Mitchell, 2025

Scaptodesmus manengouba sp. nov.

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Figs 7–9 View FIGURE 7 View FIGURE 8 View FIGURE 9 & 14 View FIGURE 14

Material examined: Holotype male (NHMN-62-10), Cameroon, Littoral Region, Manengouba Mountain , 4.98536N, 9.82125E, 2175 m a.s.l., forest, 16.VIII.2020, leg. A. R. Nzoko Fiemapong and M. Kameni Ngalieu. GoogleMaps

Paratypes: 1 male (NHMN-62-11), 1 fragmented male (NHMN-62-12), 1 male ( SEM, ARNF), same data, together with holotype .

Etymology. To emphasize the type locality; noun in apposition.

Diagnosis. Adult males of S. manengouba sp. nov. are distinguished from other congeners by the small body size ( 25 mm length); gonopod postfemoral process ( pfp) complex, folded into a lateral groove (9A–B); acropodite external branch forming a small, elongate and falcate solenomere ( slo), adjacent to a larger, subrounded, mesal solenophore ( sph).

Description. Length of holotype, ca. 25 mm (male), width of midbody pro- and metazona, 3 and 4 mm (male), respectively. Length of paratypes, 25 mm, width of midbody pro- and metazoan, 2.7–3 and 3–4 mm (male), respectively. Coloration (preserved in 70% ethanol) brown with yellow-orange-brown paraterga; legs and clypeolabral region light yellowish ( Fig. 7A View FIGURE 7 ); antennae brown, venter yellowish brown ( Fig. 7C View FIGURE 7 ).

Head densely microtuberculate; moderately setose in dorsal view ( Figs 7C View FIGURE 7 , 8A View FIGURE 8 ). Interantennal isthmus about half as broad as diameter of antennal sockets. Antennae long and clavate ( Fig. 7B View FIGURE 7 ), reaching in situ the anterior margin of body ring 4 when stretched dorsally; antennomeres 5 and 6 each bearing a dorso-apical group of tiny bacilliforms sensilla; in length, antennomere 6>2=3-5>1>7; apical segment densely pilose with usual four sensory cones.

Body with 20 segments (male). In width, head = collum <ring 2 <3<4<5<6=7–16; body then tapering towards telson. Collum ( Fig. 8A View FIGURE 8 ) transversely ellipsoid, not covering the head from above; sides narrowly rounded; dorsal surface microgranulate ( Figs 7A–C View FIGURE 7 , 8A–F View FIGURE 8 ). Dorsum slightly declined ( Figs 7C View FIGURE 7 , 8A, C, E View FIGURE 8 ). Prozona smooth and shining; metazona dull, densely granulate; dorsal surface of metaterga uniformly microgranulate. Paraterga broad, set at about the upper 1/3 of body, tips undulated to slightly sawtooth-like, with the pores opening into a bulge (=peritremata) featuring two denticules behind and three in front of the pore ( Fig. 8B, D View FIGURE 8 ). Pleurosternal margins with a field of tubercles, near the coxae. The dorsum exhibits a slight downward inclination, while the paraterga margin displays an increasingly posterior orientation towards the caudal margin, from segment 16 onwards, mostly lying at about half of body height and slightly bent down; only paraterga 16–19 increasingly clearly drawn behind the rear tergal margin. Sides below paraterga densely granulate, featuring spiniform in caudal margin. Ozopores visible, open flush on surface near midlength, slightly above the lateral edge of paraterga ( Fig. 8D View FIGURE 8 ).

Epiproct short, broad, spade-shaped, strongly flattened, subtruncate, and densely granulated ( Fig. 7B–C View FIGURE 7 ). Hypoproct densely granulate, roundly subtrapeziform, with 1+1 caudal setae distinctly separated and borne on minute knobs ( Fig. 6B View FIGURE 6 ). Paraprocts likewise densely granulate ( Fig. 8B View FIGURE 8 ).

Sterna broad, about twice as wide as the coxa length, almost flat, microgranulate and slightly setose ( Figs 7B View FIGURE 7 , 8F View FIGURE 8 ). Gonapophyses on male coxae 2 vestigial. Spiracles ( Fig. 7A View FIGURE 7 ) large, remarkably tubiform. Legs long, about 2.0 times as long as the midbody height (male); in length, femur> tarsus> tibia> prefemur> postfemur>coxa; claw very small, slightly curved; tarsi densely setose, but forming no brushes on ventral surface.

Gonopod aperture ovoid and relatively large; its lateral and posterior edges slightly elevated ( Fig. 8F View FIGURE 8 ). This structure fully conceals the gonocoxae and the bases of the telopodites.

Gonopods ( Fig. 8F View FIGURE 8 ): coxites of medium size and subcylindrical in shape. Telopodites in situ directed forward, held subparallel to each other and suberect. Prefemoral region densely setose and erect, taking up ca. 2/3 of total length of telopodite ( Figs 8F View FIGURE 8 , 9A View FIGURE 9 ). Femorite absent, but a large and complex postfemoral process ( pfp) present, folded into a lateral groove ( Fig. 9 View FIGURE 9 ). Acropodite clearly twisted and divided parabasally into two branches. The small, elongate and falcate lateral branch forming the solenomere ( slo), next to a larger, sub-rounded medial branch, the solenophore ( sph).

Female. Unknown

Distribution. This species is only known from the type locality ( Fig. 14 View FIGURE 14 ). It was found in a relatively wellpreserved forest, on Mount Manengouba, in decomposing leaf litter.