A new species of Otostigmus (Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha, Scolopendridae) from China, with remarks on the phylogenetic relationships of Otostigmus politus Karsch, 1881

Abstract

Through a combination of morphological and DNA data, a new scolopendrid centipede from southern and southwestern China was revealed: O. tricarinatus sp. nov. The species belong to the politus group but has three sharp tergal keels. Validation of phylogenetic status was performed through molecular analysis of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), 16S rRNA, and 28S rRNA sequences from 16 Otostigmus species. Otostigmus tricarinatus sp. nov. was found to be two populations and varied in the number of spines on the ultimate prefemur, the sutures on a sternite, and a pore-free median longitudinal strip in the pore field. The Yunnan-Guizhou plateau population of O. tricarinatus sp. nov. was sister to the clade O. politus politus + O. politus yunnanensis + Guangxi population of O. tricarinatus sp. nov. with strong support from both BI (bayesian inference) and ML (maximum likelihood) analyses (PP = 1, BS = 97%).