Five new species of the giant pill-millipedes of the genera Zephronia and Sphaerobelum, from China (Diplopoda: Sphaerotheriida: Zephroniidae)

Summary

Five new species of giant pill-millipedes in the family Zephroniidae are described and illustrated from China: Zephronia medogensis Zhao & Liu n. sp., Z. zhouae Zhao & Liu n. sp., Z. hui Liu & Wesener n. sp., Sphaerobelum benqii Liu & Wesener n. sp. and S. tujiaphilum Zhao & Liu n. sp. COI sequences of these five new species are given and deposited in GenBank. Additionally, a study of the genetic distance and a molecular maximum likelihood analysis were conducted based on DNA barcoding data of most SE Asian Sphaerotheriida species.

Résumé. Cinq nouvelles espèces de mille-pattes géants des genres Zephronia et Sphaerobelum, de Chine (Diplopoda : Sphaerotheriida : Zephroniidae). Cinq nouvelles espèces de mille-pattes géants de la famille des Zephroniidae sont décrites de Chine, et illustrées : Zephronia medogensis Zhao & Liu n. sp., Z. zhouae Zhao & Liu n. sp., Z. hui Liu & Wesener n. sp., Sphaerobelum benqii Liu & Wesener n. sp. et S. tujiaphilum Zhao & Liu n. sp. Les séquences COI de ces cinq nouvelles espèces sont données et déposées dans GenBank. De plus, une étude de la distance génétique et une analyse en maximum de vraisemblance ont été menées à partir des données de codes-barres ADN de la plupart des espèces de Sphaerotheriida d'Asie du Sud-Est.

Keywords:

• Biodiversity
• DNA barcoding
• morphology
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

We express sincere thanks to Mr Hu Zhengkun and his family for collecting the material and rendering it to us for study. Thanks to Dr Jingxian Liu from SCAU for his help in taking some photos. Many thanks to the three reviewers and the editor for their detailed comments which greatly improved the quality of the work presented here.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/00379271.2022.2137059