Two remarkable new species of Penicillata (Diplopoda, Polyxenida) from Table Mountain National Park (Cape Town, South Africa)

Abstract

Two new species of the families Polyxenidae and Synxenidae, are described from Table Mountain National Park, South Africa. Propolyxenus squamatus sp. n. (Polyxenidae) has tergites I-X mostly covered by scale-shaped trichomes directed caudally, a character previously known only in Synxenidae. The structure of scale-shaped dorsal trichomes is different to that of the scales in Phryssonotus and Condexenus species. Phryssonotus brevicapensis sp. n. (Synxenidae) is the only known species of the genus Phryssonotus having 11 tergites, (including collum and telson) and 15 pairs of legs, as in Condexenus biramipalpus Nguyen Duy-Jacquemin, 2006. These two species therefore appear to occupy an intermediate position between Phryssonotus (12 tergites) and Polyxenoidea (maximum of 11 tergites). © Nguyen Duy-Jacquemin et al.