MYRIAPODOLOGICA Virginia Museum of Natural History Vol. 7, No. 6 ISSN 0163-5395 April 30, 2001 A note on the status of the name Centrobolus Cook, 1897 (Spirobolida: Pachybolidae) By Richard L. Hoffman ABSTRACT Discovery of drawings of the male genitalia of Spirobolus luctuosus Peters, the type species of Centrobolus Cook, 1 897, confirms the earlier assumption (Hoffinan, 1971) that Centrobolus is the correct generic name for the numerous South African spiroboloids described under the name Chersastus. The generic name Centrobolus was proposed by O. F. Cook in 1897 to accomodate the single species Spirobolus luctuosus Peters, 1855, from Inhambane, Mozambique. The name was diagnosed in a couplet of a key to the East African genera of Pachybolidae, in the following words: Copulatory legs as a whole longer than broad, the anterior lamellae close together, much exceeded by the produced apices of the posterior lamellae, which are armed on their posterior face with a distinct spine: Genus Centrobolus, nov., type C. luctuosus (Peters), Mossambique. This statement separated Centrobolus from the related genera Pachybolus, Hadrobolus, and Epibolus, of which the first two named were treated in detail and illustrated in Cook’s subsequent paper (1899) on the species of Pachybolus. For reasons unknown to me, both Centrobolus and Epibolus were omitted, and in the absence of illustrations remained enigmas for many decades. In writing about some South African spiroboloids some decades ago (1971) I perceived that these animals, all traditionally assigned to Chersastus (e. g., by Attems, 1928, Lawrence, 1967), were generically different from the t>pe species of that name (C. braueri Attems, of the Seychelles). Rather than propose a new name Scanned with permission by Virginia Tech Insect Systematics Group 2014 (www.jointedlegs.org) 50 Myriapodologica for them, I took the option to resurrect Centrobolus for the reasons of geographic probability and Cook’s statement that the telopodites of the anterior gonopods in luctuosus are . .armed on their posterior face with a distinct spine.” Although this seemed a reasonable solution at the generic level, there remained the problem that would arise if’ as seems possible - the South African contingent was divided into two or more genera. To which group then would luctuosus belong? Regrettably, although the unique holotype of luctuosus remained available in the Berlin Museum, where I saw it in 1 966, the genitalia had been removed and were nowTere to be found. Subsequent searches through Cook’s milliped collection, which came to the U. S. National Museum following his demise in 1950, were also unsuccessful, and it seemed that the question would be frozen until somebody obtained topotypes at Inhambane. In 1984, while assisting Dr. Jonathan Coddington in reorganizing the myriapod collections at the USNM, 1 serendipitiously discovered a large package of illustra- tions of gonopods made by Cook during the 1 890s. In an envelope of unmounted drawings were three inked sketches of a spiroboloid, each identified in very small, vei 7 faint pencil words “luctuosus”. As they agree in every detail with Cook’s brief verbal account, I think there can be no doubt they were drawn from the missing gonopods- Even though the latter are still missing, at least we now have an idea of the specific attributes of this species. Peters’ original description - in Latin - is very detailed and accurate, it omits only the distribution of tarsal pads along the body. The color, probably as in life, is given as . Mter, cingulorum mediorum mgrofuscus; margo labialis rufofuscus, pedes apicibus rufoflavidis.^^ Reference to the treatments of the genus by Attems (1928), Schubart(1966), and Lawrence (1967) failed to produce a plausible close relative to luctuosus amongst known species. In general gonopod form, especially the apical lobes of the posterior gonopod, the closest matches are with C immaculatus (Lawrence), from the mountainous western edge of Mozambique and adjacent Zimbabwe, and with C. ruber vulpinus (Attems), described from Xai-Xai, on the Mozambique coast not far south of Inhambane. From these, and apparently all other species, luctuosus seems to differ in the more proximal location of the laterally-directed process on the posterior face of the telopodite. Desp ite the high quality and usefulness of the 1 967 monograph by Lawrence, a revision of this genus following modern systematic concepts is a major desideratum. REFERENCES Attems, C. 1928, The Myriopoda of South Africa. Ann. South African Mus., 26: 1-431. Hoffman: Centroholus 51 Cook, O. F. 1897. New relatives of Spirobolus giganteus. Brandtia, 18:73-75. Cook, O. F. 1899. African Diplopoda of the genus Pachybolus. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 21 : 657-666. Hoffman, R. L. 1971, Studies on spiroboloid millipeds. VIII. The generic name Centroholus revived, with some remarks on several poorly-known species. Entom. Tidskr,, 92: 142-163. Figs. 1-3. Gonopods of /MC/WO.SWJ (Peters). Drawings from the holotype by O. F, Cook, 71893. 1. Anterior gonopods, oral aspect. 2. Anterior gonopods, aboral aspect. 3. Posterior gonopod. 52 Myriapodologica Lawrence, R. F. 1 967. The Spiroboloidea (Diplopoda) of the eastern half of Southern Africa. Ann. Natal Mus., 18: 607-646. Peters, W. C. H. 1855. Uber die Myriapoden im Allgemeinen und insbesondere iiber die in Mossambique beobachteten Arten dieser Familie, deren Ubersicht hier mitgetheilt wird. Monatsber. K. preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin [fiir5. Februar] 75-83. Schubart, O. 1966. Diplopoda III. \n: South African Animal Life, \2\ ] -221 . Address of the author: Dr. Richard L. Hoffman Virginia Museum of Natural History Martinsville, Virginia, 241 12, U.S.A.