On the evolutionary status of Enantiulus nanus acutus (Attems, 1929) (Julidae, Diplopoda)

The diplopod genus Enantiulus Attems, 1894, comprises the following species: Enantiulus armatus (Ribaut, 1909), E. austriacus (Verhoeff, 1896), E. dentigerus (Verhoeff, 1901), E. karawankianus (Verhoeff, 1908), E. nanus (Latzel, 1884), E. simplex (Verhoeff, 1926), E. tatranus (Verhoeff, 1907), and E. transsylvanicus (Verhoeff, 1899) (R e a d 1990). The main generic characters of this group of species are: pale colour, reduced number of eye rows; metazonites with setae; gonopods with no flagellum; mesomerite forked; brachite with cuticular spines; vulvae with two sac-like ampullae; and "tail" pointing downwards. Within this genus the most widespread species is Enantiulus nanus (from Denmark, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, etc.). At t ems (1929) described the subspecies E. nanus acutus from Mt. Sar Planina (Serbia). S t r asse r (1971) accepted this subspecies as a valid taxon; however, Rea d (1990) in his review of Cylindroiulini, could not explain the status of E. nanus acutus; however, C e u c a (1992) ommitted this subspecies in his review of the diplopods of the Balkan Peninsula, but without any explanation. Additional confusion arose when M a uri e s et al. (1997) retained a subspecific level for E. nanus acutus. It is evident that taxonomic status of this analysed subspecies is still unclear. Therefore, we tried to clarify the relationships between the nominal subspecies E. nan us nanus and its subspecies E. nanus acutus, based on the study of the material from the collection of the Institute of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, as well as on the analysis of the relevant literature data.