A revision of dragon millipedes I: genus Desmoxytes Chamberlin, 1923, with the description of eight new species (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae)

The dragon millipede genus Desmoxytes s.l. is split into five genera, based on morphological characters and preliminary molecular phylogenetic analyses. The present article includes a review of Desmoxytes s.s., while future articles will deal with Hylomus Cook and Loomis, 1924 and three new genera which preliminarily are referred to as the ‘ acantherpestes ’, ‘ gigas ’, and ‘ spiny ’ groups. Diagnostic morphological characters of each group are discussed. Hylomus is resurrected as a valid genus and the following 33 species are assigned to it: H.asper (Attems, 1937), comb. n. , H.cattienensis (Nguyen, Golovatch & Anichkin, 2005), comb. n. , H.cervarius (Attems, 1953), comb. n. , H.cornutus (Zhang & Li, 1982), comb. n. , H.draco Cook & Loomis, 1924, stat. rev. , H.enghoffi (Nguyen, Golovatch & Anichkin, 2005), comb. n. , H.eupterygotus (Golovatch, Li, Liu & Geoffroy, 2012), comb. n. , H.getuhensis (Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2014), comb. n. , H.grandis (Golovatch, VandenSpiegel & Semenyuk, 2016), comb. n. , H.hostilis (Golovatch & Enghoff, 1994), comb. n. , H.jeekeli (Golovatch & Enghoff, 1994), comb. n. , H.lingulatus (Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2014), comb. n. , H.laticollis (Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2016), comb. n. , H.longispinus (Loksa, 1960), comb. n. , H.lui (Golovatch, Li, Liu & Geoffroy, 2012), comb. n. , H.minutuberculus (Zhang, 1986), comb. n. , H.nodulosus (Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2014), comb. n. , H.parvulus (Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2014), comb. n. , H.phasmoides (Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2016), comb. n. , H.pilosus (Attems, 1937), comb. n. , H.proximus (Nguyen, Golovatch & Anichkin, 2005), comb. n. , H.rhinoceros (Likhitrakarn, Golovatch & Panha, 2015), comb. n. , H.rhinoparvus (Likhitrakarn, Golovatch & Panha, 2015), comb. n. , H.scolopendroides (Golovatch, Geoffroy & Mauriès, 2010), comb. n. , H.scutigeroides (Golovatch, Geoffroy & Mauriès, 2010), comb. n. , H.similis (Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2016), comb. n. , H.simplex (Golovatch, VandenSpiegel & Semenyuk, 2016), comb. n. , H.simplipodus (Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2016), comb. n. , H.specialis (Nguyen, Golovatch & Anichkin, 2005), comb. n. , H.spectabilis (Attems, 1937), comb. n. , H.spinitergus (Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2016), comb. n. , H.spinissimus (Golovatch, Li, Liu & Geoffroy, 2012), comb. n. and H.variabilis (Liu, Golovatch & Tian, 2016), comb. n. Desmoxytes s.s. includes the following species: D.breviverpa Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha, 2016; D.cervina (Pocock,1895); D.delfae (Jeekel, 1964); D.des Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha, 2016; D.pinnasquali Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha, 2016; D.planata (Pocock, 1895); D.purpurosea Enghoff, Sutcharit & Panha, 2007; D.takensis Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha, 2016; D.taurina (Pocock, 1895); D.terae (Jeekel, 1964), all of which are re-described based mainly on type material. Two new synonyms are proposed: Desmoxytespterygota Golovatch & Enghoff, 1994, syn. n. (= Desmoxytescervina (Pocock, 1895)), Desmoxytesrubra Golovatch & Enghoff, 1994, syn. n. (= Desmoxytesdelfae (Jeekel, 1964)). Six new species are described from Thailand: D.aurata Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha, sp. n. , D.corythosaurus Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha, sp. n. , D.euros Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha, sp. n. , D.flabella Srisonchai, Enghoff & Panha, sp. n. ,