Polydesmidae

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Polydesmus collaris MG 1723.jpg

| image_caption = Polydesmus collaris in central Italy

| taxon = Polydesmidae

| authority = Leach, 1815

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision = See text

}}

Polydesmidae is a family of millipedes in the order Polydesmida.{{cite web|url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/browse/tree/id/19829990|title=Polydesmidae|website=Catalogue of Life|date=29 October 2014|accessdate=7 November 2014}} This family includes more than 240 species in more than 30 genera. These millipedes have a mostly Holarctic distribution that extends south not only to Mexico and North Africa but also as far as Java. Most species are found in the Mediterranean region.{{Cite journal |last1=Nguyen |first1=Anh D. |last2=Vu |first2=Tam T. T. |last3=Eguchi |first3=Katsuyuki |date=2024-01-30 |title=The millipede family Polydesmidae Leach, 1816 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida) from Vietnam, with a description of a new cavernicolous species |journal=ZooKeys |issue=1190 |pages=259–280 [259] |doi=10.3897/zookeys.1190.114958 |doi-access=free |issn=1313-2970 |pmc=10848813 |pmid=38327265|bibcode=2024ZooK.1190..259N }}{{Cite journal |last=Anh |first=Nguyen Duc |date=2009-06-01 |title=A new species of the family Polydesmidae (Diplopoda: Polydesmida) from Vietnam |url=https://brill.com/ |journal=International Journal of Myriapodology |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=63–68 [63] |doi=10.1163/187525409X462421|url-access=subscription }}

Description

These millipedes range from 4 mm to 30 mm in length. Colors range from pitch black through reddish or brownish to pallid and are rarely vivid. The collum is small, in the shape of a transverse oval, with a smooth anterior margin. The paranota are simple but usually well developed and dentate laterally.{{Cite book |last1=Enghoff |first1=Henrik |title=The Myriapoda |last2=Golovatch |first2=Sergei |last3=Short |first3=Megan |last4=Stoev |first4=Pavel |last5=Wesener |first5=Thomas |publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV |year=2015 |isbn=978-90-04-15612-8 |editor-last=Minelli |editor-first=Alessandro |volume=2 |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=402 |chapter=Diplopoda — Taxonomic Overview}} This family includes the notable species Polydesmus progressus, which exhibits sexual dimorphism in segment number: Whereas adult females of this species feature the 20 segments (counting the collum as the first segment and the telson as the last) usually observed on the order Polydesmida, the adult males feature only 19 segments.{{Cite journal |last=Brölemann |first=H.W. |date=1900 |title=Myriapodes cavernicoles descriptions d'espèces nouvelles |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8249607#page/88/mode/1up |journal=Annales de la Société entomologique de France |language=French |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=73-81 [78-80] |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}{{Cite journal |last1=Enghoff |first1=Henrik |last2=Dohle |first2=Wolfgang |last3=Blower |first3=J. Gordon |date=1993 |title=Anamorphosis in Millipedes (Diplopoda) – The Present State of Knowledge with Some Developmental and Phylogenetic Considerations |url=https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-abstract/109/2/103/2646268?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=109 |issue=2 |pages=103–234 [147] |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1993.tb00305.x|url-access=subscription }}

Genera

File:Nipponesmus shirinensis anterior.jpg

References

Category:Polydesmida

Category:Millipede families