Two new species Bicoxidens Attems, 1928, from Zimbabwe (Diplopoda: Spirostreptida: Spirostreptidae)

Abstract

Bicoxidens nasti n.sp. and Bicoxidens friendi n.sp. are described from five and six males, respectively. B. nasti was collected from miombo woodland litter west of Marondera, Mashonaland East, whereas B. friendi was collected in grasses on a granite rock outcrop at Mutawatawa Growth Point in Maramba district, Murewa, northeast of Harare. B. nasti differs from all other species of Bicoxidens by the presence of a hammer-shaped mesad process on each paracoxite and a long sickle-shaped mesad process on the telocoxite, which completely overlaps with that of the opposite gonopod. B. friendi differs by having three median processes on the telocoxite giving the gonopod a T-shape.

Keywords: millipede, gonopods, paracoxite, taxonomy