Mecistocephalus tahitiensis
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| Mecistocephalus tahitiensis | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Myriapoda |
| Class: | Chilopoda |
| Order: | Geophilomorpha |
| Family: | Mecistocephalidae |
| Genus: | Mecistocephalus |
| Species: | M. tahitiensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Mecistocephalus tahitiensis Wood, 1862 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Mecistocephalus tahitiensis is a species of centipede in the family Mecistocephalidae.[1] This centipede is found in Australia and on islands in the Pacific.[2] This species features only 47 pairs of legs rather than the 49 leg pairs usually observed in the genus Mecistocephalus.[3][4]
This species was first described in 1862 by the American myriapodologist Horatio Wood. He based the original description of this centipede on type material found among the specimens in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. The American biologist William Stimpson collected this material on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia.[5]
In 1887, the German zoologist Erich Haase described a variety of this species found on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji and named this subspecies M. tahitiensis porosus.[6] In 1920, the American biologist Ralph V. Chamberlin deemed M. tahitiensis porosus to be a junior synonym of M. tahitiensis.[7] Since then, other authorities have adopted the synonymy proposed by Chamberlin.[8] Despite this proposed synonymy and the original description of this centipede as a subspecies, some references list M. porosus as a separate species.[9][10][11]
In 1903, the Austrian myriapodologist Carl Attems placed the species M. tahitiensis in the genus Lamnonyx.[12] In 1919, the Italian zoologist Filippo Silvestri followed suit, adopting the name Lamnonyx tahitiensis for this species, by then recorded in what is now Papua New Guinea as well as in Australia.[13] In 1925, the German zoologist Karl W. Verhoeff described a subspecies under the name Lamnonyx tahitiensis major, also found in Australia.[14] In 1929, however, Attems deemed Lamnonyx to be a junior synonym for Mecistocephalus, moving M. tahitiensis back to the genus in which it was originally placed.[3] Authorities now deem the subspecies L. tahitiensis major to be a junior synonym for the parent species and Lamnonyx to be a junior synonym for Mecistocephalus.[15][16]
Phylogeny
A phylogenetic analysis of 46 species in the family Mecistocephalidae based on morphology places M. tahitiensis in a clade with two other Mecistocephalus species with only 47 pairs of legs, M. angusticeps and an undescribed species found on the Marquesas islands in French Polynesia. This analysis places a clade with only 45 leg pairs in the most basal branch of a phylogenetic tree of the genus Mecistocephalus, with a sister group formed by species in this genus with 47 or more leg pairs, and the clade with only 47 leg pairs in the second most basal branch, with a sister group formed by species in this genus with 49 or more leg pairs. This analysis indicates that the common ancestor of the species in this genus had 45 leg pairs, and that species with more leg pairs evolved through a process that added segments and increased the number of legs incrementally, first to 47 pairs, then (for most species in the genus) to 49 pairs.[17]