Cave millipede diversity with the description of six new species from Guangxi, China

摘要

We synthesized the current knowledge of cave-dwelling millipede diversity from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Guangxi), South China Karst, China and described six new millipede species from four caves from the Guilin area, northeastern Guangxi. Fifty-two cave-dwelling millipedes are known for the region consisting of 38 troglobionts and 14 troglophiles. Of the troglobionts, 24 are presently considered single-cave endemics. New species described here include Hyleoglomeris rukouqusp. nov. and Hyleoglomeris xuxiakeisp. nov. (Family Glomeridae), Hylomus yuanisp. nov. (Family Paradoxosomatidae), Eutrichodesmus jianjiasp. nov. (Family Haplodesmidae), Trichopeltis liangfengdongsp. nov. (Family Cryptodesmidae), and Glyphiulus maocunsp. nov. (Family Cambalopsidae). Our work also resulted in range expansions of Pacidesmus trifidus Golovatch & Geoffroy, 2014, Blingulus sinicus Zhang & Li, 1981 and Glyphiulus melanoporus Mauriès & Nguyen Duy-Jacquemin, 1997. As with many hypogean animals in Southeast Asia, intensive human activities threaten the persistence of both cave habitats and species. We provide both assessments on the newly described species’ distributions and recommendations for future research and conservation efforts.