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Issue: Vol. 5799 No. 3: 29 Apr. 2026
Type: Article
Published: 2026-04-29
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5799.3.7
Page range: 559-572
Abstract views: 82
PDF downloaded: 9

A review of the millipede fauna of Ethiopia, with the description of a new genus and species of the family Spirostreptidae (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida)

A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution; Russian Academy of Sciences; Moscow; Russia
Natural History Museum of Denmark; University of Copenhagen; Øster Farimagsgade 2D; DK-1353 Copenhagen K; Denmark
Institute of Biology and Chemistry; Moscow State Pedagogical University; Zoology and Ecology Department; Moscow; 129164 Russia
taxonomy iconography Afrotropics Myriapoda

Abstract

The known millipede fauna of Ethiopia is reviewed, and its provisional checklist currently contains fewer than 40 species. A new monotypic genus of Spirostreptidae is described from an evergreen tropical forest in Oromiya State, Ethiopia: Altisternostreptus gen. nov., with A. harenna sp. nov. as the type species. The new genus differs from other genera of Spirostreptidae/Perustreptinae/Perustreptini primarily by: (1) the remarkably high and narrow gonopod sternum, coupled with the combination of the body ring pleura meeting and fusing in the midline behind the second pair of legs of each ring; (2) the gonopod coxal metaplica showing both a prominent mesal (map) and a smaller lateral (lap) process apically, lap being remarkably unciform and directed apicad; (3) the gonopod telopodite very long and slender, devoid of an antetorsal process or spine, but at about 1/3 of its exposed part markedly torsate through 360° and then coiled into a complete and tight circle; (4) the post-torsal part of the telopodite very simple, subflagelliform, with no side branches apart from a small post-torsal fold (ptf) that tightly envelopes the telopodite at about its midway and distal to the twist on the caudal face; and (5) the efferent canal (= seminal groove) in the gonopod telopodite unbranched, terminating on a simple, barely bifid and only slightly sigmoid tip.

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How to Cite

Golovatch, S.I., Enghoff, H. & Korotayeva, A.M. (2026) A review of the millipede fauna of Ethiopia, with the description of a new genus and species of the family Spirostreptidae (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida). Zootaxa, 5799 (3), 559–572. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5799.3.7