The centipede genus Clinopodes C. L. Koch, 1847 (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae): reassessment of species diversity and distribution, with a new species from the Maritime Alps (France)

Diagnosis, circumscription, species-level taxonomy and geographical occurrence of the genus Clinopodes C. L. Koch, 1847 (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae) are revised by integrating published information with new evidence on its morphological diversity. Clinopodes is clearly distinguishable from all other geophilid lineages by a combination of features mainly in the forcipular segment, the trunk sternites and the ultimate legs. It is widespread in south-eastern Europe, from the Alps to the Caucasus. A total of 10 species are recognized, mainly differing in minor features of the forcipular coxosternite and the arrangement of sternal and coxal pores: C. carinthiacus (Latzel, 1880) n. stat.; C. caucasicus (Selivanov, 1884) n. comb. formerly Geophilus caucasicus; C. escherichii (Verhoeff, 1896); C. flavidus C. L. Koch, 1847; C. intermedius Dărăbanţu & Matic, 1969; C. latisternus (Attems, 1947) n. comb. from Pleurogeophilus latisternus; C. rodnaensis (Verhoeff, 1938); C. skopljensis (Verhoeff, 1938); C. verhoeffi n. nom. (for Geophilus flavidus porosus Verhoeff, 1934); C. vesubiensis n. sp., Geophilus lindbergi (Loksa, 1971), n. comb. formerly Clinopodes lindbergi, is demonstrated to have been classified erroneously under Clinopodes. Clinopodes vesubiensis n. sp. is described from a limited area in the southern Maritime Alps, at the western border of the entire range of the genus, and disjunct from the morphologically closest species C. carinthiacus, suggesting that the history of differentiation and colonization of the genus within the Alps has been more complex than previously thought.