Cyphocallipus africanus, Stoev & Akkari, 2025

Cyphocallipus africanus sp. nov.

Figs 1 View Figure 1 , 2 View Figure 2

Diagnosis.

A species of the genus Cyphocallipus , differing from C. excavatus in having a semicircular rounded protective lamella at the distal part of telopodite (vs subrectangular in C. excavatus ), bearing smaller fold at the margin than in C. excavatus ; coxosternal process m with apically rounded and not distally expanded process k, and a much shorter process j (1 / 3 of process k vs 1 / 2 of process k in C. excavatus ); coxosternal process i with a straight distal part; coxosternal process i ’ broad, incised distally, posterior part of distal incision oval, posterior proximal margin triangularly oval; sternal lamella similar to C. excavatus in position but lower. Table 1 View Table 1 provides a comparison of the main taxonomic characters between Cyphocallipus africanus sp. nov. and C. excavatus .

Etymology.

The specific epithet emphasizes the discovery of the first native member of the order Callipodida on the African continent. Adjective.

Material examined.

• Holotype: adult male, Morocco, Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, Chefchaouen Province, Bab Taza, cave Maala Abladir , 35°04'07.3"N, 5°06'19.6"W, 14.VIII.2005, leg. G. E. S. [ Grupo de Exploraciones Subterráneas of Priego], NHMW MY 10657 View Materials . GoogleMaps

Description.

Body cylindrical, length circa 56 mm, maximal body diameter circa 2.85 mm. 58 PTs + Telson. Colour in life unknown; colour of preserved specimen: head frons and vertex yellow alveolate. Male head concave with the characteristic for the genus pair of knobs on epicranium (Fig. 1 A, B View Figure 1 ); Eyes: 53 ommatidia in 10 rows (Fig. 1 A View Figure 1 ). Organ of Tömösváry twice as large as largest ommatidium. All pleurotergites yellow, with light-brown transverse band on posterior margin (Fig. 1 C View Figure 1 ). Antennae broken, brownish, ratio: 2> 3> 5> 4> 6> 7 (vs 5> 2> 4> 6> 3> 1> 7). Legs yellow; claws darker. Pleurotergal crests touching each other at anterior part of pleurotergite (prozonum) and becoming separate and thinning towards pleurotergite end (Fig. 1 C View Figure 1 ); 5 + 5 pleurotergal crests between ozopores on midbody pleurotergites. Ozopores situated between crests 5 and 6, very small and difficult to spot.

Legs: Leg-pairs 1 and 2 reduced and more setose than the rest, with postfemoral and tibial brushes and tarsal combs. Leg-pairs 3–5 with postfemoral and tibial brushes; legs 1–5 (also postgonopodal legs) with prefemur, femur, postfemur and tibia micropapillate; leg-pair 2 with posterior gonopore, prefemora of legs 3–7 slightly enlarged and covered with dense setae. Coxal sacs large and conspicuous at least until leg-pair 12.

Telson (Fig. 1 D View Figure 1 ): anal valves: with smaller dorsal and larger ventral plates; dorsal plates with one microseta each; hypoproct tripartite, median sclerite largest, subtrapezoidal, bearing a pair of macrosetae situated in the middle. Lateral sclerites smaller, subtriangular, with one seta each. Epiproct: with two moderately long spinnerets.

Gonopods (Figs 1 E, F View Figure 1 , 2 A – F View Figure 2 ): gonopod comprising a long and arcuate telopodite (T), attached at the inner posterior end of gonocoxa and pointing posterioventrad, accompanied by a flagelliform accessory process (pseudoflagellum - F), following the curvature of telopodite. Distal part of telopodite enlarged, with a rounded buckle ( bu) at the base of the protective lamella ( Pl). Protective lamella covering partially the solenomere (s) and parasolenomere ( ps); lobe more rounded at margin, semicircular, with a very small fold at the margin. Sternal lamella large, broad, posterior to the telopodite and the coxal processes, less developed and lower compared to C. excavatus ; Coxosternum with three large processes i ’, i, and m. Posterior coxosternal process i ’ broad, incised distally, posterior part of distal incision oval, posterior proximal margin triangularly oval; coxosternal process m forked into processes j and k; process j is 1 / 3 of the length of process k; k apically rounded and not distally expanded as in C. excavatus . Coxosternal process i straight.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution.

Known only from the type locality in Morocco. Bab Taza is a small town in Talassemtane National Park in the Rif Mountains (Moutaouakil pers. comm.) (Fig. 3 View Figure 3 ). The cave Maala Abladir has relatively large entrance (Fig. 4 View Figure 4 ) and two floors. Clay covers much of the area, and the cave ends with a pool (Fig. 5 View Figure 5 ). In a paper summarizing the results of studies on hypogean beetles of the family Cholevidae in Morocco, Fresneda and Fadrique (2006) reported the Speonemadus maroccanus (Jeannel, 1936) from the Maala Abladir. To our knowledge, this is the only other animal hitherto recorded from the cave.

Habitat.

Although collected from a cave, the new species does not exhibit any traits of troglomorphism, leading us to presume that it was only seeking shelter there.

Comments.

The specimen is heavily infested by fungi (Fig. 1 A, B View Figure 1 ). Most likely they are representatives of the ectoparasitic fungi of the order Laboulbeniales Engler, 1898 , as described in other members of Callipodida from the Iberian Peninsula ( Reboleira and Enghoff 2015).