Agnostrup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Agnostrup | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Myriapoda |
| Class: | Chilopoda |
| Order: | Geophilomorpha |
| Family: | Mecistocephalidae |
| Genus: | Agnostrup Foddai, Bonato, Pereira & Minelli, 2003 |
| Type species | |
| Krateraspis striganovae Titova, 1975 | |
| Species | |
Agnostrup is a genus of soil centipedes in the family Mecistocephalidae.[1] This genus contains at least three species.[2][3][4] These centipedes are found in temperate regions of East Asia and the Russian Far East.[5][6] Each species in this genus features 41 pairs of legs.[7]
This genus was first described in 2003 by the biologists Donatella Foddai, Lucio Bonato, Luis Alberto Pereira, and Alessandro Minelli to contain three species originally assigned to other genera: Taiwanella striata, described in 1949, Taiwanella paucipes, described in 1955, and Krateraspis striganovae, described in 1975. The genus name derives from the Greek word agnostos, which refers to the forgotten status of these three species since their original descriptions, and the name Arrup, which refers to a genus featuring similar morphology. Foddai and her colleagues designated Agnostrup striganovae as the type species for this genus.[6]
Foddai and her colleagues found that a phylogenetic analysis of similar species of soil centipedes based on morphology placed these three species together in their own clade in a phylogenetic tree.[6] Furthermore, a cladistic analysis of the family Mecistocephalidae using morphological features placed the genus Agnostrup in the subfamily Arrupinae, along with the genera Arrup, Nannarrup, and Partygarrupius.[8] Moreover, a cladistic analysis of the subfamily Arrupinae based on external morphology also placed the genus Agnostrup in a clade with a sister group formed by the genera Arrup and Nannarrup.[6]
In 2024, however, a phylogenetic analysis based on molecular data placed Agnostrup in a clade with Nannarrup as a closely related sister group. This analysis placed Arrup by itself on the most basal branch in a phylogenetic tree of the family Mecistocephilidae. This study found so little genetic distance between Agnostrup and Nannarrup that some authors suggest that the morphological differences between these two genera are too minor to justify their separation into distinct genera. These authors propose moving the three species of Nannarrup into the genus Agnostrup.[7] Nevertheless, other references list Nannarrup as a valid genus,[9][10][11] with only three species listed in the genus Agnostrup.[1][3][4]
Distribution
The species Agnostrup striatus is found in Shanxi province in northeastern China.[12] The species A. paucipes is found on the island of Honshu in Japan.[13] The type species A. striganovae is found in the Maritime Territory (Primorsky Krai) in the Russian Far East.[14][6]