Macrosternodesmidae

In 1916, the French myriapodologist Henry W. Brölemann proposed Macrosternodesmini as a tribe to include the monotypic European genus Macrosternodesmus,{{Cite journal |last=Brölemann |first=Henry Wilfred |date=1916 |title=Essai de classification des Polydesmiens (Myriapodes) |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8559505#page/625/mode/1up |journal=Annales de la Société entomologique de France |language=French |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=523–608 [585]|doi=10.1080/21686351.1915.12279415 }} which he had described earlier in 1908.{{Cite journal |last=Brölemann |first=H.-W. |date=1908 |title=Description d'un genre nouveau et d'une espece nouvelle de Myriapodes de France |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/5606 |journal=Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France |language=French |volume=1908 |pages=94–96 |doi=10.5962/bhl.part.5606 |bibcode=1908AnSEF1908...94. |issn=0037-928X}} In 1980, the American biologist Richard L. Hoffman elevated this tribe name to family status as Macrosternodesmidae.{{Cite journal |last1=Shear |first1=William A. |last2=Steinmann |first2=David B. |date=2019-08-19 |title=Cave millipedes of the United States. XV. Coloradesmus gen. nov. (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Macrosternodesmidae), and four new species from caves in Colorado, USA |url=https://subtbiol.pensoft.net/article/38161/ |journal=Subterranean Biology |volume=32 |pages=15–32 [17–19] |doi=10.3897/subtbiol.32.38161 |issn=1314-2615 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last=Shelley |first=Rowland M. |date=2002 |title=A revised, annotated, family-level classification of the Diplopoda |url=https://kmkjournals.com/upload/PDF/ArthropodaSelecta/11/11_3%20187_207%20Shelley.pdf |journal=Arthropoda Selecta |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=187–207 [200]}} In 2013, however, the Russian zoologist Sergei I. Golovatch deemed Macrosternodesmidae to be a junior synonym of Trichopolydesmidae. In 2017, the biologists William A. Shear and James M. Reddell rejected this proposed synonymy and retained Macrosternodesmidae as a valid family mostly endemic to North America but also including Macrosternodesmus and three other monotypic European genera.{{Cite journal |last1=Shear |first1=William A. |last2=Reddell |first2=James M. |date=2017-01-01 |title=Cave millipedes of the United States. XIV. Revalidation of the genus Speorthus Chamberlin, 1952 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Macrosternodesmidae), with a description of a new species from Texas and remarks on the families Polydesmidae and Macrosternodesmidae in North America |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi/1034/ |journal=Insecta Mundi |volume=0529 |pages=1–13 [5–6, 8]}}

Authorities often consider Nearctodesmidae to be a junior synonym of Macrosternodesmidae.{{cite book |last=Shear |first=W. |author-link=William Shear |url=http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/zt03148p164.pdf |title=Animal biodiversity : an outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness |publisher=Zootaxa |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-86977-850-7 |editor=Zhang, Z.-Q. |pages=159–164 [164] |chapter=Class Diplopoda de Blainville in Gervais, 1844}} In 2017, Shear and Reddell placed the genera previously assigned to the family Nearctodesmidae in a new subfamily Nearctodesminae in the family Macrosternodesmidae. Others have adopted this proposed revision.{{Cite web |last1=Sierwald |first1=P. |last2=Decker |first2=P. |last3=Spelda |first3=J. |title=MilliBase - Nearctodesminae Chamberlin & Hoffman, 1950 |url=https://www.millibase.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1741989 |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=www.millibase.org}}{{Cite web |title=Nearctodesminae Chamberlin & Hoffman, 1950 {{!}} COL |url=https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/C7VSM |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=www.catalogueoflife.org}} In 2019, Shear, Rowland M. Shelley, and David B. Steinmann proposed two new genera (Packardesmus and Coloradesmus) and placed them in the other subfamily (Macrosternodesminae) in this family.{{Cite journal |last1=Shear |first1=William A. |last2=Shelley |first2=Rowland M. |date=2019-02-20 |title=Solved after 140 years: the identity of the millipede Polydesmus cavicola Packard, 1877, and proposal of Packardesmus n. gen. (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Macrosternodesmidae) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331232616 |journal=Zootaxa |language=en |volume=4559 |issue=2 |pages=384–390 [384–386] |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4559.2.11 |pmid=30791024 |issn=1175-5334}} Some authorities accept Macrosternodesmidae as a valid family but nevertheless place Macrosternodesmus, Packardesmus, and Coloradesmus in the family Trichopolydesmidae instead.{{Cite web |last1=Sierwald |first1=P. |last2=Decker |first2=P. |last3=Spelda |first3=J. |title=MilliBase - Trichopolydesmidae Verhoeff, 1910 |url=https://www.millibase.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=888798 |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=www.millibase.org}}

As described by Shear and Reddell based on North American species, the millipedes in this family feature a small collum shaped like a transverse oval and well developed paranota. Species in this family range from white to brown or red. Whereas millipedes in the subfamily Macrosternodesmidae are small (2.5 mm to 12 mm in length) and often lack pigment, those in the subfamily Neactodesminae are much larger (10 mm to 35 mm in length) and often brown, orange, pink, or red. Whereas Macrosternodesmines feature short antennae with bulbous distal segments, Nearctodesmines feature long antennae with cylindrical distal segments. The tergites feature setae that are often arranged on rows of tubercles in Macrosternodesmines, but these surfaces are entirely smooth and lack setae in Nearctodesmines.

The revisions proposed by Shear, Reddell, Shelley, and Steinmann would include at least the following genera in the following two subfamilies in this family:

;Subfamily Macrosternodesminae Brölemann, 1916

• Chaetaspis Bollman, 1887
• Coloradesmus Shear & Steinmann, 2019
• Macrosternodesmus Brölemann, 1908
• Nevadesmus Shear, 2009
• Ophiodesmus Cook, 1895
• Packardesmus Shear & Shelley, 2019
• Pratherodesmus Shear, 2009
• Sequoiadesmus Shear & Shelley, 2008
• Speodesmus Loomis, 1939
• Speorthus Chamberlin, 1952
• Tidesmus Chamberlin, 1943

;Subfamily Nearctodesminae Chamberlin & Hoffman, 1950

• Bistolodesmus Shelley, 1994
• Ergodesmus Chamberlin, 1949
• Kepolydesmus Chamberlin, 1910
• Leonardesmus Shelley & Shear, 2006
• Nearctodesmus Silvestri, 1910

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite book

| last1 = Lee | first1 = Paul

| last2 = Harding | first2 = P.

| date = 2006

| title = Atlas of the millipedes (Diplopoda) of Britain and Ireland

| publisher = Pensoft

| volume = 59

}}

• {{Cite book

| last1 = Hoffman | first1 = Richard L.

| date = 1999

| title = Checklist of the millipeds of North and Middle America

| publisher = Virginia Museum of Natural History

}}

• {{Cite book

| last1 = Foddai | first1 = Donatella

| last2 = Dallai | first2 = Romano

| date = 1995

| title = Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Pauropoda, Symphyla

| publisher = Calderini

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• {{Cite book

| editor-last1 = Capinera | editor-first1 = John L.

| date = 2008

| title = Encyclopedia of Entomology

| publisher = Springer

| isbn = 978-1402062421

}}

{{refend}}

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Category:Polydesmida

Category:Millipede families

Category:Taxa named by Henry Wilfred Brolemann