Publications by authors named "William A Shear"

The identity of Striaria californica Cook, described in 1899 from a single female, is established on the basis of additional specimens collected by Cook in 1929 and determined to be that species by Loomis (1936) as well as specimens from the San Francisco Bay region, likely to be from near the original collection locality. We propose Amplaria californica (Cook, 1899) new combination. A new genus, Bayaria Shear & Marek n.

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Lineagona n. gen., is established for two species from either side of the Rio Grande River in Texas and Mxico.

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We describe three new genera and four new species of small, litter-dwelling millipedes from the states of Oregon and Washington, USA: Miniaria ramifera, n. gen., n.

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The following new genera and species of Striariidae are described from the states of California, Oregon and Washington: Nototrisaria ornata n. gen., n.

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Myriapods.

Curr Biol

December 2022

Paul Marek and William Shear introduce the arthropod sub-phylum myriapoda, which includes centipedes, millipedes and other multi-legged animals.

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Two new genera and species, Stegostriaria dulcidormus (Trisariinae) and Kentrostriaria ohara (Striariinae), are described from Oregon and Idaho, respectively. The new species are distinct from any other striariids, and indeed from any other chordeumatidan millipedes, in having the second dorsal crests greatly enlarged, giving them a fanciful resemblance to stegosaurid dinosaurs. In spite of this similarity, the two species are so distinct they cannot be accommodated in the same genus or the same subfamily.

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A new species, Amplaria oedipus, is described from Oregon, USA. Males of the new species have greatly inflated pyriform tarsi on the 5th and 6th legpairs, which is a secondary sexual modification previously not known from any other millipede.

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The name "millipede" translates to a thousand feet (from mille "thousand" and pes "foot"). However, no millipede has ever been described with more than 750 legs. We discovered a new record-setting species of millipede with 1,306 legs, Eumillipes persephone, from Western Australia.

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To process a Festschrift is an honour and a unique opportunity to show respect to someone who made important contributions over many years in a special field of scientific research. In the case of Jochen Martens the contribution is to not only in one field, but in several: harvestmen, birds, high mountains, taxonomy, systematics, evolution etc.

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A new genus, Martenseya, is described for Martenseya minutocaeca n. sp., a tiny, blind species in the family Caseyidae from Marin County, California, USA.

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Three new genera, Retrorsioides, Rowlandesmus and Benedictesmus, are described and the polydesmid millipede fauna of North America is briefly reviewed with an emphasis on the genera Bidentogon Buckett Gardner, 1968 and Retrorsia Shelley, 2003. Eighteen new species are described: Bidentogon buttensis, Bidentogon norcal, Retrorsia leonardi, Retrorsia benedictae, Retrorsia richarti, Retrorsia gracilis, Retrorsia simplicissima, Retrorsioides castellum, Retrorsioides linnensis, Retrorsioides kittitas, Retrorsioides bammerti, Retrorsioides arboramagna, Rowlandesmus millicoma, Rowlandesmus dentogonopus, Benedictesmus aureua, Benedictesmus ellenae, Benedictesmus yaquina and Benedictesmus timber. Natural history notes and illustrations are provided of putative commensal fungi, nematodes and a mite found on the millipede specimens.

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The millipede genus Striaria Bollman, 1888 heretofore had been thought to be confined to the Appalachian region of eastern North America, is replaced in western North America by species of the genus Amplaria Chamberlin, 1941. Collections from northern Idaho show that this is not the case, and that at least four species of Striaria occur in the west. These species are described herein as Striaria aculeata n.

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The millipede genus Amplaria Chamberlin, 1941 (senior synonym of Vaferaria Causey, 1958 and Speostriaria Causey, 1960) is endemic to western North America, from Mt. Palomar and San Luis Obispo, California, north to southwestern British Columbia, Canada, and east to northern Idaho. Seven species names are currently assigned to the genus.

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The center of diversity for the chordeumatidan millipede family Conotylidae is northwestern North America, where five of six subfamilies and ten of fourteen previously described genera occur; in this paper, seven additional new genera and 33 new species from the region are described. New species in the genus Taiyutyla Chamberlin, 1952 are: Taiyutyla tillamook, Taiyutyla acuphora, and Taiyutyla amicitia; in the genus Bollmanella Chamberlin, 1941: Bollmanella bombus, Bollmanella washingtonensis and Bollmanella leonardi; in the genus Brunsonia Loomis Schmitt, 1971: Brunsonia pulchra, Brunsonia digitata, Brunsonia wenatchee, Brunsonia chelanoparva, Brunsonia chelanomagna, Brunsonia selwayana and Brunsonia benewah. Vancouvereuma n.

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The significant taxonomic characters of the millipede family Striariidae Bollman, 1888 are discussed. The monotypic genus Vaferaria Causey, 1958 is synonymized under Amplaria Chamberlin, 1941, giving the new combination Amplaria imberbis (Loomis, 1936). The genera Striaria Bollman, 1888 and Amplaria are assigned to the subfamily Striariinae.

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Urochordeumatidae Silvestri, 1909 includes a single species, Urochordeuma bumpusi Silvestri, 1909, with U. porona Chamberlin, 1941 as a new junior subjective synonym. The family Urochordeumatidae is removed from the superfamily Caseyoidea and transferred to the superfamily Striarioidea.

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Two new species of millipedes are described from Oregon Caves National Monument, Josephine County, Oregon, USA: Taiyutyla caseophila, n. sp. (Conotylidae), a troglophile; and Opiona catorycha, n.

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The identity of Polyesmus cavicola Packard, 1877, described from a cave in Utah, is clarified through examination of a female lectotype and a newly collected adult male. The species is placed in the family Macrosternodesmidae and is designated as the type species of Packardesmus, n. gen.

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The millipede Craspedosoma raulinsii (Craspedosomatidae) is widespread in Central Europe from Belarus and southern Scandinavia west to Britain and Ireland. Although the species is often not common and rarely encountered (Blower 1985, Hoffman 1999, Lee 2006), Kime (2004) reports C. raulinsii as the third most widespread millipede in Belgium.

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A new species of long-jawed harvestman, Taracus aspenae n. sp. is described from Catherine Creek Ice Cave, near Le Grande, Union Co.

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With fossil representatives from the Silurian capable of respiring atmospheric oxygen, millipedes are among the oldest terrestrial animals, and likely the first to acquire diverse and complex chemical defenses against predators. Exploring the origin of complex adaptive traits is critical for understanding the evolution of Earth's biological complexity, and chemical defense evolution serves as an ideal study system. The classic explanation for the evolution of complexity is by gradual increase from simple to complex, passing through intermediate "stepping stone" states.

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Spiders (Araneae) are a hugely successful lineage with a long history. Details of their origins remain obscure, with little knowledge of their stem group and few insights into the sequence of character acquisition during spider evolution. Here, we describe Chimerarachne yingi gen.

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