Pill-millipedes (Glomerida, Diplopoda) in Taiwan
Author
Chang, Hsueh-Wen
text
Zootaxa
2010
2477
1
20
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.195313
d0cb0ee6-a954-4aa7-9c42-c47704081cef
1175-5326
195313
Place of
Mauriesia
in the order
Glomerida
According to Mauriès (2006), the order
Glomerida
contains two superfamilies, the Glomeridelloidea with the single family
Glomeridellidae
, and the Glomeroidea with two families,
Protoglomeridae
and
Glomeridae
. The Glomeridelloidea harbours only two genera with approximately 25 species (Mauriès 2006), all restricted to the Mediterranean region and characterized by two pairs of enlarged and strongly elongated telopods (male legs 18 and 19), each composed of 3–4 segments, of which the distal 2–3 segments form pincers.
In contrast, the superfamily Glomeroidea comprises the bulk of
Glomerida
(Holarctic and Southeast Asia down to Sulawesi in the southeast), being characterized by only a single pair of telopods (male legs 19), while male legs 18 are somewhat reduced and forming no pincers. Of the two families of Glomeroidea, the
Protoglomeridae
is a small family with three genera in the Mediterranean region and one genus in the Nearctic. Their telopod shows the coxa and four telopoditomeres, of which the prefemur, femur and tibia are either completely (Mediterranean forms) or nearly so (Nearctic species) devoid of setae on the mesal face; the femur carries a finger-shaped distomedial process placed opposite to the acropodite and thus forming pincers.
The second family of Glomeroidea, the
Glomeridae
, is by far the largest in
Glomerida
, being characterized by some lamellar outgrowths/processes present on the medial face of the telopod femur and tibia, often also accompanied by setae, simple or borne on finger-shaped processes, on the prefemur.
Since
Mauriesia
has only one pair of telopods, it clearly falls into the Glomeroidea, while the presence of a mesal seta on the prefemur, as well as of the various outgrowths on the femur and tibia show that
Mauriesia
definitely belongs in the family
Glomeridae
.