| Sphaeropoeus hercules | |
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| Sphaeropoeus hercules from Sumatra | |
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| Species: | S. hercules |
| Binomial name | |
| Sphaeropoeus hercules Brandt, 1833 | |
Sphaeropoeus hercules is a species of giant pill millipede belonging to the family Zephroniidae. [1]
Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a result of two single segments fused together. Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical or flattened bodies with more than 20 segments, while pill millipedes are shorter and can roll into a tight ball. Although the name "millipede" derives from Latin for "thousand feet", no species was known to have 1,000 or more until the discovery in 2020 of Eumillipes persephone, which can have over 1,300 legs. There are approximately 12,000 named species classified into 16 orders and around 140 families, making Diplopoda the largest class of myriapods, an arthropod group which also includes centipedes and other multi-legged creatures.
Sphaerotheriida is an order of millipedes in the infraclass Pentazonia, sometimes known as giant pill millipedes. They inhabit Southern Africa, Madagascar, South and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Like the Northern Hemisphere pill millipedes of the order Glomerida, these millipedes can roll into a ball when disturbed. When they are rolled-up, most sphaerotheriidans reach a maximum size of a cherry or golf ball, but some species from Madagascar can even reach the size of an orange. When rolled-up, predators are unable to unravel giant pill millipedes since the margins of their second and last dorsal plates fit perfectly into one another, creating a sealed ball. A few giant pill millipede species are able to produce sound, the only millipedes known to do this. This order of millipedes is also unique in that some African species are used for medicinal purposes.
Sphaeromimus, or the chirping giant pill millipedes, is a genus of giant pill millipedes endemic to southeastern Madagascar. Though described in 1902, the genus was up to 2005 known from a single male specimen, whose appearance was so unusual that the authors suspected a mislabeled giant pill-millipede from India. Their unusual and distinct morphology includes well-developed stridulation organs, probably as devices for courtship. These are the male ‘harp’ and the female ‘washboard’, which contain more stridulation ribs than in other members of the order Sphaerotheriida. They have a closer affinity with the Indian genus Arthrosphaera than to other Malagasy genera, though all belong to the Arthrosphaeridae.
Zephroniidae is a family of giant pill millipedes in the taxonomic order Sphaerotheriida. They occur in southeast Asia from the Himalayas and China south and east to Sulawesi and to Australia, and also inhabit some Philippine islands.
Polyxenida is an order of millipedes readily distinguished by a unique body plan consisting of a soft, non-calcified body ornamented with tufts of bristles – traits that have inspired the common names "bristly millipedes" or "pincushion millipedes". There are at least 86 species in four families worldwide, and are the only living members of the subclass Penicillata.
Richard Lawrence Hoffman was an American zoologist known as an international expert on millipedes, and a leading authority on the natural history of Virginia and the Appalachian Mountains. He was a biology professor at Virginia's Radford College for almost thirty years, and curator of invertebrates at the Virginia Museum of Natural History for another twenty years. He co-founded the Virginia Natural History Society, described over 400 species of millipedes, and produced more than 480 scientific publications. He is commemorated in the scientific and/or common names of over 30 animal species, including the valley and ridge salamander and Hoffman's dwarf centipede.
Orthomorpha is a genus of millipedes in the family Paradoxosomatidae containing approximately 50 species distributed in Southeast Asia.
Chordeumatida is a large order of millipedes containing some 1200 species with a nearly worldwide distribution. Also known as sausage millipedes, they grow and develop through a series of moults, adding segments until they reach a fixed number in the adult stage, which is usually the same for a given sex in a given species, at which point the moulting and the addition of segments and legs stop. This mode of development, known as teloanamorphosis, distinguishes this order from most other orders of millipedes, which usually continue to moult as adults, developing through either euanamorphosis or hemianamorphosis.
Casimir Albrecht Willem Jeekel (1922–2010) was a Dutch myriapodologist and entomologist known for his major contributions to the taxonomy of millipedes. His 1971 monograph Nomenclator Generum et Familiarum Diplopodorum is credited as launching the "modern era" of millipede taxonomy, and has been considered the "most important single work ever published on the Diplopoda". He served as director of the Zoological Museum Amsterdam, and authored over 150 works on the taxonomy of millipedes and other myriapods.
Zephronia is a genus of giant pill millipedes in the family Zephroniidae. This genus includes 47 species distributed throughout N. India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malayan Peninsula, Java, Sumatra and Borneo.
Henry Wilfred Brolemann was a French myriapodologist and former president of the Société entomologique de France known for major works on centipedes and millipedes, of which he named some 500 species. Brolemann was born on 10 July 1860 in Paris, to a wealthy family of Israelite industrialists and bankers that had long since converted to Protestantism. He graduated from the University of Paris and was in the banking business early in life, then left for studies in the United States, including at Indiana University, and then studied in Italy before returning to France and becoming one of the world's experts in myriapods. Brolemann was fluent in English, German and Italian, and wrote in Spanish and Portuguese.
Dendrothereua is a genus of house centipedes in the family Scutigeridae. There are at least three described species in Dendrothereua, found in the southern United States and the Neotropics.
Arthrosphaera attemsi, is a species of pill millipedes in the family Arthrosphaeridae. It is native to India and Sri Lanka.
Arthrosphaera ruginosa, is a species of pill millipedes in the family Arthrosphaeridae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka.
Brachycybe lecontii is a species of millipede in the family Andrognathidae. It is found in North America.
Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus is a species of millipede in the family Julidae.
Scolopocryptops is a genus of bark centipedes in the family Scolopocryptopidae. There are over 20 described species in Scolopocryptops.
Strigamia is a genus of soil centipedes in the family Linotaeniidae. Members of this family can be identified by their anteriorly tapering bodies, the extra claw on the forcipules, scattered coxal pores, and the distinctly swollen ultimate legs of the males. There are at least 50 described species in Strigamia. Centipedes in this genus can reach 15 cm in length and can have as few as 31 pairs of legs or as many as 83 leg pairs. The species S. hoffmani is notable for its small size as well as for having relatively few legs.
Hemiscolopendra is a genus of bark centipedes in the family Scolopendridae. There are about six described species in Hemiscolopendra, found in North, Central, and South America.
Stenoniodes, commonly known as the Borneo tractor millipede, is a genus of millipede in the family Platyrhacidae. It contains six species, five of which occur on Borneo and one on Sibutu Island. Its common name originates from the likeness of its 20-segmented body to the tread of a tractor's tire.
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