Six new species of the pill millipede genus Hyleoglomeris Verhoeff, 1910 (Diplopoda, Glomerida, Glomeridae) in Thailand revealed by dna-barcoding

Abstract

Thai species of the pill millipede genus Hyleoglomeris Verhoeff, 1910 are reviewed, and an annotated catalogue is provided. Six new species from Thailand are described and illustrated based on morphological characteristics and molecular analyses: H. dracosphaera sp. n., H. nigromaculata sp. n., H. suwannakhuhensis sp. n., H. bomba sp. n., H. tongkerdae sp. n., and H. krasoon sp. n. They are morphologically similar, yet all can be separated based on their characteristic colour patterns, telopod structures and geographic distributions. Genetic differences in the DNA barcode region confirm their full species statuses, with interspecific COI p-distances ranging from 9.01% to 16.51% dissimilarity. We also propose the following new synonym: H. hongkhraiensis Likhitrakarn, Golovatch & Panha, 2015 = H. cavicola Likhitrakarn, Golovatch & Panha, 2015 syn. n. This is based on the low genetic divergence observed between these two taxa (2.34% COI p-distance). A new distribution map of and a key to all Hyleoglomeris species presently known to occur in Thailand are also provided.