Brachydesmus

Brachydesmus
Brachydesmus superus
Scientific classification
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Brachydesmus

Heller, 1858

Brachydesmus is a genus of millipedes belonging to the family Polydesmidae. Millipedes in this genus are found mainly in Europe.[1] Species in this genus have only 19 segments as adults (counting the collum, the telson, and the rings in between), one fewer than found in most polydesmid species.[2][3] Accordingly, adults in this genus have two fewer pairs of legs than most polydesmid adults have: Females have only 29 pairs of legs, and males have only 28 pairs of walking legs, excluding one pair of gonopods.[2][4] Species in this genus arrive at these lower numbers of legs and segments by going through the same stages of teloanamorphosis observed in other polydesmids but reaching maturity one moult earlier.[2][3]

Species[edit]

Species within this genus include: [5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Enghoff, Henrik; Golovatch, Sergei; Short, Megan; Stoev, Pavel; Wesener, Thomas (2015). "Diplopoda — Taxanomic Overview". In Minelli, Alessandro (ed.). The Myriapoda. Vol. 2. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. p. 403. ISBN 978-90-04-15612-8.
  2. ^ a b c Blower, J. Gordon (1985). Millipedes : keys and notes for the identification of the species. Linnean Society of London, Estuarine and Brackish-water Sciences Association. London: Published for the Linnean Society of London and the Estuarine and Brackish-Water Sciences Association by E.J. Brill. ISBN 90-04-07698-0. OCLC 13439686.
  3. ^ a b Enghoff, Henrik; Dohle, Wolfgang; Blower, J. Gordon (1993). "Anamorphosis in Millipedes (Diplopoda) — The Present State of Knowledge with Some Developmental and Phylogenetic Considerations". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 109 (2): 103–234. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1993.tb00305.x.
  4. ^ Mesibov, Robert. "External Anatomy of Polydesmida: Body plans". myriapodology.org. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
  5. ^ Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D. Catalogue of Life