A further contribution to the knowledge of <i>Pectiniunguis minutus</i> (Demange, 1968), a little known dwarf schendylid centipede from western equatorial Africa (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha)

Abstract

The geophilomorph centipede <i>Pectiniunguis minutus</i> (Demange, 1968), a little known dwarf schendylid from Gabon (Western equatorial Africa), is redescribed and illustrated based on the type material and an additional non-type specimen preserved in the collections of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris. <i>P. minutus</i> can be easily differentiated from all the other species currently assigned to the genus <i>Pectiniunguis</i>, by the very low number of leg-bearing segments (35 in the males, 37 or 39 in the females) and very small body size (12-16 mm in length). <i>P. minutus</i> is also distinguished by having ventral pore-fields on the anterior region of the body only, this character being shared by a single species of the genus, i.e., <i>P. ascendens</i> Pereira, Minelli & Barbieri, 1994, from the Neotropics (Brazil: State of Amazonas) with which a morphological comparison is given. Comments about other dwarf centipede species belonging to several families of the order Geophilomorpha, are also added.