Millipede ID

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Hypoponera

Hypoponera

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Can anyone identify this millipede? I have two of them. I had gotten only a single, unidentified specimen from Orin a long while ago, but have found a second in the tank. The larger one is shown. It is about 6 inches long with the smaller specimen being about 4 inches. I think they are in the order Spirobolida, but have no idea of species. The have round eye patches and a large tail spine. Any ideas?

oct-nov 2010 065.jpg

oct-nov 2010 066.jpg

oct-nov 2010 067.jpg

 
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Narceus sp don't have tail spines. So I think will have to go along with Apeuthes sp. I probably won't get an "exact" species determination with out a killer key and a dead male to disect. I will try posting the photos on the millipede section on another forum. Maybe some Brit will be able to ID the critter. They seems to be more into millis then us Yanks!

 
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That species was identified by a world-class taxonomist who was given physical specimens. See my earlier post: Apeuthes sp. You will not identify it with any guide. You're likely to find a name if you post it on another forum but it will be the wrong genus and wrong name.

 
Who is this world-class taxonomist? Is he a millipede specialist or does he come in from another area? When did he ID the specimens? What reference was he basing his determinations on? Is it available somewhere? I have seen several species in the genus Apeuthes listed/shown on the German forum. Maybe several undescribed species have been described since yours was identified. I am hoping to narrow down the list of possible species candidates.

 
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I'm guessing you don't own a copy of Giant Millipedes The Enthusiast's Handbook? The taxonomist who identified a number of specimens is a millipede taxonomist, it seems strange you'd think I'd send millipede specimens to a plecoptera or megaloptera specialist.

 
Hey Orin,

Your guessing is very wrong. I have said book. It is out of date in terms of species info. As you pointed out regarding Epibolus pulchripes, more keeping experience has been gained since the book was published. I suspect more information is availabe now on most of the species that the book covers. Likewise, several species are now available that are not covered in your book.

Who is the taxonomist? Give me his name so I can look up the papers he has written! Is it Dr Richard Hoffman who is listed in the acknowledgments? I am a classically trained entomologist and I get off reading about taxonomy, phylogony and evolutionary history. Likewise, I do know a fair bit about species identification. This taxonomist might be able to point me to a good source of identification keys. He had to have some source just to identify the genus. I am just trying to narrow down what species this might be. Any help to that end would be greatly appreciated!

 
Hypoponera said:
Hey Orin,

Your guessing is very wrong. I have said book. It is out of date in terms of species info. As you pointed out regarding Epibolus pulchripes, more keeping experience has been gained since the book was published. I suspect more information is availabe now on most of the species that the book covers. Likewise, several species are now available that are not covered in your book.
Click to expand...
The hardiness numbers in the book are only meant to give an idea of whether or not you have to feel bad if you kill them, it says they're nominal.

As for taxonomists, there are very few and finding one that will answer questions or look at specimens is difficult. Some of the German sites have it listed as Tonkinbolus caudulanus.

 
Considering there's no source on the Tonkinbolus identification it'd probably just a different generic name being used for the wrong animal.

 
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The first one I found was T. dollfusi. It was described as being formerly Anadenobolus rubropunctatus from Thailand. Is the genus Anadenonbolus found in SE Asia? I know your book covers 4 species from Puerto Rico area.

 
For those who are interested, I did find a great site covering taxonomy.

www.catologueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2010/

Click on the seach button and enter a genus name. It will provide some very interesting results!

Orin, Tonkinbolus IS an accepted millipede genus with 2 known species. Likewise, Apeuthes is also an accepted genus with 3 known species.

The interesting part is that we may need to do some changes in our books. Seems that Archispirostreptus gigas, the AGB, is NOT the correct name, it should be Spirostreptus gigas! It would seem that back in 1855, Peters described 2 specimens that were actually the same species. Spirostreptus giga`s was the first described "species" so that name takes priority. But I think I'll still stick with AGB for short!

 

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