Description of Taulidesmella tabatinga n.sp. (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Pyrgodesmidae) from Amazon River floodplains, with notes on its distribution and ecology

A new pyrgodesmid, Taulidesmella tabatinga n.sp., is described from near Iq uitos, Peru, from near Tabatinga (an area at the border between Brazil, Pen t and Colombia), from the environs of Manaus and from Rio Madeira, Brazil, all these localities lying along the Solimoes/Amazon River. T. tabatinga is only a second congener distinct from the type-species T. chanchamayo KRAUS , 1959, from Peru, chiefly by the much larger body size, 12-lobed collum, s omewhat differently lobulated paraterga and simpler gonopods. This species, apparently widespread in Amazonian floodplains, represents a "terricolous migrant" which passes the aquatic phase on tree trunks above the water-leve l and has a low flood tolerance (1 < 16 hs).