The pill millipede genus Rhopalomeris Verhoeff, 1906 new to the fauna of China, with an integrative description of a new species from Guangdong Province (Diplopoda, Glomerida, Glomeridae)
The order Glomerida (pill millipedes) represents a group of terrestrial invertebrates of high ecological and taxonomic significance, yet its diversity and distribution in China remain poorly documented. Employing an integrative taxonomic approach that combines traditional morphological examination with COI gene sequence analysis, this study describes a new species of the genus Rhopalomeris, R. dinghushan sp. nov., collected from Dinghushan National Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province. This discovery represents the first formal record of the genus Rhopalomeris from China, thereby filling in a major distributional gap for this endemic Oriental genus and extending its known range north of Indochina to southern China. Phylogenetic analyses based on COI sequences, using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference, reveal that the genus as currently circumscribed seems to be polyphyletic. The new species, R. dinghushan sp. nov., forms a well-supported clade together with Peplomeris magna, challenging the current generic delimitation and highlighting the need for a comprehensive revision of the genus.
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