Arthrosphaeridae
| Arthrosphaeridae | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Myriapoda |
| Class: | Diplopoda |
| Order: | Sphaerotheriida |
| Family: | Arthrosphaeridae |
Arthrosphaeridae is a family of giant pill millipedes of the class Diplopoda that are found in Madagascar, the Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka. The largest pill-millipede in the world, Zoosphaerium neptunus (Butler 1872) belongs to this family and is known to swarm at certain times of the year.[1]
An introduced population exists on the Usumbara mountains of Tanzania.
The first segment of the anterior telopods have a stridulatory organ known as a "harp" and this has one to ten ribs. The anal plate on the female is enlarged and has 1-12 ribs while the male anal shield has no special sclerotized notch as seen in other families. The segments of the antenna are oval or cylindrical.[2]
References
- ↑ Thomas Wesener; and Kai Schütte (2010). "Swarming behaviour and mass occurrences in the world's largest giant pill-millipede species, Zoosphaerium neptunus, on Madagascar and its implication for conservation efforts (Diplopoda: Sphaerotheriida)". Madagascar Conservation and Development 5 (2): 89–94. doi:10.4314/mcd.v5i2.63137.
- ↑ Wesener, Thomas (2014). "A new phylogenetic analysis of the Sphaerotheriida (Diplopoda) with a revision of the Australian giant pill-millipedes". Invertebrate Systematics 28 (2): 196. doi:10.1071/IS13048.
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