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Geophilus

{{Short description|Genus of centipedes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Soil Centipede (22520553902).jpg

| image_caption = Geophilus sp.

| taxon = Geophilus

| authority = Leach, 1814

}}

Geophilus is a large, heterogeneous genus of soil centipedes in the family Geophilidae{{Cite journal |last1=Bonato |first1=Lucio |last2=Zapparoli |first2=Marzio |last3=Drago |first3=Leandro |last4=Minelli |first4=Alessandro |date=2016 |title=An unusually elongate endogeic centipede from Sardinia (Chilopoda: Geophilidae) |journal=European Journal of Taxonomy |issue=231 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.5852/EJT.2016.231 |s2cid=58911978 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=11577/3189380}} largely considered to be synonymous with Brachygeophilus. The generic name first appeared in Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopaedia in 1814 as Geophilus electricus.{{cite journal |last1=Brewster |first1=David |date=1814 |title=Crustaceology |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37187666 |journal=Edinburgh Encyclopaedia |volume=7 |issue=2 |page=409 |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.30911 |access-date=16 December 2021 |doi-access=free}} This genus has a Holarctic distribution.

Description

This genus is characterized by a claw-shaped ultimate pretarsus, complete or nearly complete coxo-pleural sutures at the prosternum, and incomplete chitin-lines.{{cite journal |last1=Crabill |first1=Ralph E. |date=1954 |title=A conspectus of the northeastern North American species of Geophilus (Chilopoda Geophilomorpha Geophilidae) |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16179236 |journal=Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington |volume=56 |pages=172–188 [174] |doi= |access-date=24 October 2021 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}} Centipedes in this genus feature slightly elongate heads and labral intermediate parts with tubercles, the forcipules are usually poorly elongate with a single small tubercle at the base of each tarsungulum, and the anterior trunk metasternites usually have an anterior medial socket and a posterior transversally elongate pore-field.

Centipedes in this genus range from about 1 cm to about 8 cm in length.{{Cite book |last1=Bonato |first1=Lucio |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/812207443 |title=The Myriapoda. Volume 1 |last2=Edgecombe |first2=Gregory D. |last3=Zapparoli |first3=Marzio |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |isbn=978-90-04-18826-6 |editor-last=Minelli |editor-first=Alessandro |location=Leiden |pages=363–443 [414] |chapter=Chilopoda – Taxonomic overview |oclc=812207443}} Several species in this genus are notable for their small sizes, including G. minimus (measuring 9.5 mm in length),{{Cite book |last=Attems |first=Carl |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111430638/html |title=Lfg. 52 Myriapoda, 1: Geophilomorpha |publisher=De Gruyter |year=1929 |isbn= |editor-last1=Attems |editor-first1=Karl |pages=200, 325, 355 |language=de |doi=10.1515/9783111430638}} G. pinivagus (10 mm), G. richardi (10 mm), G. pusillus (11 mm), and G. piae (11 mm).{{Cite journal |last=Bonato |first=Lucio |last2=Minelli |first2=Alessandro |last3=Drago |first3=Leandro |last4=Pereira |first4=Luis Alberto |date=2015-09-25 |title=The phylogenetic position of Dinogeophilus and a new evolutionary framework for the smallest epimorphic centipedes (Chilopoda: Epimorpha) |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ctoz/84/3/article-p237_4.xml |journal=Contributions to Zoology |volume=84 |issue=3 |pages=237–253 [249] |doi=10.1163/18759866-08403004 |issn=1875-9866|hdl=11577/3146565 |hdl-access=free }} Other species are notable for their large sizes, including G. procerus (measuring 72 mm in length) and G. piedus (75 mm).{{Cite journal |last=Chamberlin |first=Ralph V. |date=1930 |title=On some centipeds and millipeds from Utah and Arizona |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53390223#page/142/mode/1up |journal=Pan-Pacific Entomologist |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=111-121 [114] |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}

Although centipedes in this genus can have as many as 89 pairs of legs (in G. caucasicus,{{Cite web |last1=Bonato |first1=L. |last2=Chagas Junior |first2=A. |last3=Edgecombe |first3=G.D. |last4=Lewis |first4=J.G.E. |last5=Minelli |first5=A. |last6=Pereira |first6=L.A. |last7=Shelley |first7=R.M. |last8=Stoev |first8=P. |last9=Zapparoli |first9=M. |date=2016 |title=Geophilus caucasicus Sseliwanoff, 1884 |url=https://chilobase.biologia.unipd.it/searches/result_species/3177 |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=ChiloBase 2.0 - A World Catalogue of Centipedes (Chilopoda)}} with 57 to 89 leg pairs{{Cite journal |last1=Bonato |first1=Lucio |last2=Iorio |first2=Étienne |last3=Minelli |first3=Alessandro |date=2011 |title=The centipede genus Clinopodes C. L. Koch, 1847 (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae): reassessment of species diversity and distribution, with a new species from the Maritime Alps (France) |url=https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/sites/default/files/articles/pdf/z2011n2a3_0.pdf |journal=Zoosystema |language=en |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=175–205 [184] |doi=10.5252/z2011n2a3 |issn=1280-9551}}), most species in this genus have a much smaller number of legs. For example, two species in this genus include centipedes with only 29 leg pairs, the lowest number recorded in the family Geophilidae: G. persephones (29 in the only specimen, a male) and G. richardi (29 or 31 in males and 33 in females).{{Cite journal |last=Pereira |first=Luis Alberto |date=2013-01-01 |title=Discovery of a second geophilomorph species (Myriapoda: Chilopoda) having twenty-seven leg-bearing segments, the lowest number recorded up to the present in the centipede order Geophilomorpha |url=https://www.revistas.usp.br/paz/article/view/78856 |journal=Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia |language=en |volume=53 |issue=13 |pages=163–185 |doi=10.1590/S0031-10492013001300001 |doi-access=free |hdl=11336/3449 |hdl-access=free }} Several other species in this genus are known from specimens with notably few leg pairs in each sex, including G. ribauti (as few as 31 in males and 33 in females),{{Cite journal |last1=Iorio |first1=Etienne |last2=Labroche |first2=Aurélien |date=2015 |title=Les chilopodes (Chilopoda) de la moitié nord de la France: toutes les bases pour débuter l'étude de ce groupe et identifier facilement les espèces |url=https://www.biodiversite-auvergne-rhone-alpes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/IORIO__LABROCHE_2015_Chilopoda_Northern_France_low_res.pdf |journal=Invertébrés Armoricains |language=French |volume=13 |pages=1–108 [65]}} G. hadesi (33 in both sexes),{{Cite journal |last1=Stoev |first1=Pavel |last2=Akkari |first2=Nesrine |last3=Komericki |first3=Ana |last4=Edgecombe |first4=Gregory |last5=Bonato |first5=Lucio |date=2015-06-30 |title=At the end of the rope: Geophilus hadesi sp. n. – the world's deepest cave-dwelling centipede (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae) |url=https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/5527/ |journal=ZooKeys |language=en |issue=510 |pages=95–114 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.510.9614 |pmc=4523767 |pmid=26257537|doi-access=free }} G. piae (as few as 35 in males and 37 in females),{{Cite journal |last=Minelli |first=Alessandro |date=1982 |title=On Sardinian centipedes (Chilopoda) |journal=Bolletino di Zoologia |language=en |volume=49 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1080/11250008209439365 |doi-access=free }} G. bipartitus (35 in males and 39 in females),{{cite journal |last1=Takakuwa |first1=Yosioki |date=1937 |title=The Geophilus-species of Japan |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/10834429?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F10834429&__lang=ja |journal=Zoological Magazine, Tokyo |language=Japanese |volume=49 |issue=8 |pages=282–286 |access-date=1 February 2022 |via=NDL Digital Collections}} and G. oligopus (37 or 39 in both sexes).{{Cite journal |last1=Stojanović |first1=Dalibor Z. |last2=Mitić |first2=Bojan M. |last3=Gedged |first3=Amna M. |last4=Antić |first4=Dragan Ž |last5=Makarov |first5=Slobodan E. |date=2019-08-23 |title=Geophilus serbicus sp. nov., a new species from the Balkan Peninsula (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha: Geophilidae) |url=https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4658.3.7 |journal=Zootaxa |language=en |volume=4658 |issue=3 |pages=556–570 [561] |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4658.3.7 |issn=1175-5334|url-access=subscription }}

Species

This genus is the largest in the family Geophilidae, with about 140 species:{{ITIS |title=Geophilus Leach, 1814 |id=1092218 |access-date=2 November 2021}}{{cite web |title=Geophilus Leach, 1814 |url=https://chilobase.biologia.unipd.it/searches/result_genres/325 |website=ChiloBase 2.0 |access-date=1 February 2022}}

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References

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Category:Centipede genera

Category:Taxa named by William Elford Leach