Redescription of Rhysodesmus dasypus (Gervais, 1847), the type species of the genus (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae)

Abstract

As both the type of the genus and the largest known xystodesmid, Rhysodesmus dasypus (Gervais, 1847) is an important and charismatic Mexican species. Despite there are numerous taxonomic contributions, R. dasypus remains enigmatic and poorly diagnosed, necessitating the need for an updated taxonomic synthesis. Here, we present a redescription of R. dasypus based on eight specimens collected from three localities in close proximity to the suggested type locality of the species and include photographs of the diagnostic morphological characters. Additionally, we include a distribution map of previously reported localities from the literature and two new localities.