Puerto Rico, Florida Co., Rio Encantado Cave, 1 (sub?)adult, 29.07.2009, leg. P. Beron (NMNHS).

Puerto Rico, Florida Co., Rio Encantado Cave.

named after my friend and colleague Dr Pavel Stoev who drew my attention to this new species.

Tergite 1 with rounded anterior transverse suture and incomplete paramedian sutures. Sternites distinctly margined laterally. Ultimate legs: prefemur with 4, femurwith 3 small spinous processes medially and 1 ventrally; tibia with 2 small spinous processes medially. Tarsus 1 large and clavate (bulbous), clearly differing from the much thinner tarsus 2; the latter consisting of 19–20 articles.

Length of body ca 17 mm, length of ultimate legs about 9 mm. Color (in ethanol): entire animal uniformly light-yellow with cephalic plate and forcipular segment slightly darker (Fig. 1). Body sparsely pilose; sternites and legs less setose than tergites.

Antennae composed of 17 articles (Fig. 2), reaching rear edge of tergite 5 when folded backwards; 2.5 basal antennal articles covered by a few long setae, subsequent articles densely pilose. Basal antennal articles somewhatflattened dorso-ventrally.

Head: cephalic plate visibly longer than wide, with rounded corners and very short paramedian sutures at posterior margin.

Second maxillae: as in all other Newportia species but dorsal spur on article 2 of the telopodite not recognisable. Pretarsus without spurs, with well-developed dorsal brush. The angle between the longitudinal axes of pretarsus and article 3 of telopodite slightly more than 100° (Fig. 3), which is quite unusual condition in Scolopendromorpha.

Forcipular segment: coxosternite without any visible sutures (including thechitin-lines). Anterior margin of coxosternite evidently convex (Fig. 3), divided by a median diastema into two low additionally sclerotised lobes; each lobe bearing a longseta. Trochanteroprefemoral process absent. Tarsungula normal.

Tergites: anterior margin of tergite 1 covered by the cephalic plate; tergite 1with a rounded anterior transverse suture and paramedian sutures stretching from the transverse suture to the posterior tergal margin. Tergite 3 with a very characteristic thin oblique sutures bordering the anterior corners of tergite. Tergites 2-22 with complete paramedian sutures, tergites 3-21(22)withlateral longitudinal sutures (Fig. 4). Tergite 23 lacking sutures, its posterior margin convex. Tergite margination virtually absent, only tergite 23 distinctly margined laterally.Tergite 23 much wider rather than long and nearly rectangular in shape; its lateral sides slightly rounded (Fig. 4). All tergites without medial keel; pretergites also missing.

Sternites: trapeziform, 2-22 with incomplete (equally shortened from both sides) but with a well expressed median longitudinal sulcus. Sternites 2-21 with definite and complete lateral margination (Fig. 5) through lateral longitudinal sutures (see Remark 2); endosternites absent. Sternite 23 trapeziform, with a few very short (spur-like) setae on lateral sides (Fig. 6), with a straight posterior margin.

Legs: prefemur, femur and tibia with a few large setae (Fig. 5); tarsi with more numerous setae of various length and size. Tibia of legs 1–20 with a lateral spur; both, ventral tibial spur and tarsal spur absent. Tarsi of legs 1–21 (Fig. 5) without distinct division between tarsus 1 and 2; pretarsi long, thin and sharply pointed.Pretarsi of legs 1-22 with two thin and long (as long as 1/2 of pretarsus)accessory spines.

Coxopleuron (Figs 6, 7):nearly completely pierced with coxal pores of various size – only coxopleural process and a narrow area bordering posterior margin of coxopleuron remaining poreless. Coxopleural process (Figs 6, 7)as long as ultimate sternite, conical, without additional spines. Coxopleural surface without setae.Posterior margin of pleuron of ultimate leg-bearing segment forming avery obtuse angle.

Ultimate legs (Fig. 8): slender, ca 9 mm long, width of prefemur ca 0.5 mm.Prefemur triangular in cross-section, with a standard row of 4 ventral spinous processes (Fig. 7), some spurs (strong, spine-like setae of various length) dorso-laterally and more numerous similar spurs dorso-medially (Fig. 4). All four prefemoral ventral spinous processes are of the same size, apically curved and ending in a pointed harpoon-like tip, which is accompanied by a long seta. Femurcylindrical,with 3 small spinous processes medially (Fig. 9) and 1 ventrally in the middle of femur (Fig. 10). Tibia cylindrical, with 2 small spinous processes medially: one close to its base and another at mid length (Figs 9, 10). Both femoral and tibial spinous processes are accompanied by a single long ventral seta. Tibia practically as long as prefemur or femur. Tarsus well divided into tarsus 1 and tarsus 2 (Fig. 8), former as long as 1/2 of tibia. Tarsus 1 (Figs 8–10) is enlarged and clavate (bulbous); tarsus 2 thin, consisting of 19 (or 20) articles (Fig. 8). In a few places annulation of tarsus 2 is somewhat vague; for example, the very long ultimate article seems to consist of two articles, which are not well divided. Ultimate legs without pretarsus.

The species is hitherto known only from its type locality.

Being -250 m deep and 16 910 m long Rio Encantado is the deepest and the longest cave system in Puerto Rico. This system lies in the Tertiary limestone area which stretches along the northern coast of the island (Peck 1974). Newportia stoevi has been collected deep inside the cave, in the aphotoc zone and although apparent troglomorphic traits are lacking it may well represent a troglobite, as its congener from Sistema de Purificacion, Mexico, Newportia troglobia (Chagas and Shelley 2003). In the cave it co-occurs with amblypigs, spiders, beetles (Dr. P. Beron, pers. comm.).