Tubaphe

Tubaphe
Drawings of Tubaphe levii including the gonopods by Rowland Shelley
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Myriapoda
Class:	Diplopoda
Order:	Polydesmida
Family:	Xystodesmidae
Genus:	Tubaphe Causey, 1954
Species:	T. levii
Binomial name
Tubaphe levii Causey, 1954
Synonyms[1]
Species synonymy Metaxycheir pacifica Shelley, 1990

Tubaphe is a genus of millipede in the family Xystodesmidae with a single described species, Tubaphe levii.[2] The genus was erected by Nell B. Causey in 1954.[3]

Tubaphe was described as having a simple gonopod with a two-pronged telopodite and lacking lacking paranota on segments six, eight, eleven, and fourteen.[3] Shelley notes that T. levii has a nearly cylindrical body and is often lacking or nearly lacking paranota beyond the first four segments[4]

Tubaphe levii was first described by N. B. Causey based on samples collected by Dr Herbert W Levi and Lorna R. Levi from the Graves Creek Campground on the Olympic peninsula.[3] The species was placed in a unique genus based in large part on the reduced paranota of all segments after the fourth.[3] This feature distinguishes T. levii from all other American Xystodesmids.[4]

The species is found on the northern parts of the Olympic peninsula (where it was first described from) as well as on the southern portions of Vancouver Island BC.[4] The Vancouver island population was first described as Metaxycheir pacifica by Rowland M. Shelley in 1990[5] and later synonymized with T. levii by Dr Shelley in 1993.[6]

References

1. "Tubaphe". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
2. Citizen science observations for Tubaphe at iNaturalist
3. Pacific Coast Entomological Society; Society, Pacific Coast Entomological; Van Duzee, Edward P.; Sciences, California Academy of; Society, Pacific Coast Entomological (1954). The Pan-Pacific entomologist. Vol. 30. San Francisco: Pacific Coast Entomological Society.
4. Shelley, Rowland M. (1994). "The Chonaphini, a biogeographically significant milliped tribe in eastern and western North America (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae)". Brimleyana. 20: 111–200.
5. Shelley, Rowland M. (1990-11-01). "A new milliped of the genus Metaxycheir from the Pacific coast of Canada (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae), with remarks on the tribe Chonaphini and the western Canadian and Alaskan diplopod fauna". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 68 (11): 2310–2322. doi:10.1139/z90-323. ISSN 0008-4301.
6. Shelley, Rowland M. (1993-01-01). "The milliped genus Underwoodia (Chordeumatida: Caseyidae)". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 71 (1): 168–176. doi:10.1139/z93-023. ISSN 0008-4301.