Zoosystema
37 (1) - Pages 211-238After the examination of many specimens, the authors give new data on centipedes of the Mercantour National Park, the Alpes-Maritimes department and their surroundings. These examinations improve the knowledge of the distribution of several fairly rare species and allow to describe a remarkable new species from Entrevaux (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department): Lithobius (Lithobius) lemairei n. sp. This new species occurs in superficial subterranean environments (MSS) and maybe deeper in caves or crevices; it exhibits morphological troglomorphic adaptations such as reduction of ocelli and an increased size of the Tömösváry’s organ. It also has lateral-internal sulci on femora, tibiae, tarsi one and two of the 15th legs, and secondarily on the same articles of the 14th legs. These traits clearly distinguish this species from the others belonging to the genus Lithobius Leach, 1814 in this geographical area. After a reexamination of the published records and of the specimens recorded from the Alpes-Maritimes, Eupolybothrus (Eupolybothrus) fasciatus (Newport, 1845) must to be removed from the French. After our research of the halophilous and halobiontic species of geophilomorphs on the littoral of Alpes-Maritimes, it appears that these species have at least strongly declined in this area. An ecological synthesis is done on all the observed species, by cumulating the new data and the preceding contributions on the Alpes-Maritimes. A checklist of the centipedes known in the Mercantour National Park and/or in the Alpes-Maritimes department is given. It includes data on: 1) endemism at local and/or national level(s); 2) their presence in their limits of distribution; and 3) some remarkable ecological particularities (troglobiontic, halobiontic, orophilous species). Some local endemics and some stenoecious species seem to be potentially threatened, or even in a decline according to our observations. A preliminary list of these « vulnerables species » is proposed.
France, distribution, ecology, littoral geophilomorphs, conservation, inventory.
