Paeromopus angusticeps

Paeromopus angusticeps is a species of millipede found in the U.S. state of California. It occupies the largest geographic range of all four species of Paeromopus, occupying much of Northern California in a large arc extending from Monterey County on the central coast, north along the Coast Ranges to Humboldt County, and descending along the Cascades and Sierra Nevada range of eastern California. P. angusticeps is largely absent from California's Central Valley.[1][2][3]

Paeromopus angusticeps
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Diplopoda
Order:
Julida
Family:
Paeromopodidae
Genus:
Paeromopus
Species:
P. angusticeps
Binomial name
Paeromopus angusticeps
(Wood, 1864)
Subspecies

P. angusticeps angusticeps
P. angusticeps buttensis

Synonyms

Spirobolus angusticeps Wood, 1864
Paeromopus lysiopetalinus Karsch, 1881
Paeromopellus sphinx Verhoeff, 1938
Paeromopus pistus Chamberlin, 1941
Paeromopus buttensis Chamberlin, 1954
Paeromopus ocellatus Loomis, 1972

Description

Adult P. angusticeps individuals possess up to 80 body segments and range from 100 to 150 mm (3.9 to 5.9 in) long, and 5 to 7 mm (0.20 to 0.28 in) wide. The color pattern consists of alternating bands of brown on a black or blue-black base color, although in some individuals the banding is largely indistinct from the base color. Like other members of the family Paeromopodidae, the exoskeleton is marked with small parallel grooves or striations.[1] Each eye is composed of up to 30 ocelli arranged in a patch on each side of the head.[4]

Subspecies

The populations of Paeromopus angusticeps are divided into two races or subspecies- P. a. angusticeps and P. a. buttensis- based on subtle differences of the gonopods, specialized male reproductive appendages. P. a. angusticeps occurs in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas, from Marin to Monterey county, while the more widespread P. a. buttensis occupies the northern and eastern portions of the range. Prior to the 1990s, the two subspecies were regarded as two or more distinct species, but were reduced to subspecific rank with the discovery of intergrade populations in Solano and Sonoma counties that show intermediate morphology.[2]

References
  1. Shelley, Rowland M. (1994). "Revision of the milliped family Paeromopodidae, and elevation of the Aprosphylosomatinae to family status (Julida: Paeromopodoidea)". Entomologica Scandinavica. 25 (2): 169–214. doi:10.1163/187631294X00298.
  2. Shelley, R. M.; Bauer, S. B. (1997). "New records and species, and taxonomic alterations in the milliped family Paeromopodidae (Julida)". Entomological News. 108 (1): 1–14.
  3. Shelley, Rowland M. (2002). "Annotated Checklist Of The Millipeds Of California (Arthropoda: Diplopoda)". Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist. 1 (1): 90–115. doi:10.3398/1545-0228-1.1.90.
  4. Loomis, H. F. (1972). "Some Notes on the Milliped Family Paeromopidae, with a Description of a New Species". The Florida Entomologist. 55 (4): 259–262. doi:10.2307/3493377. JSTOR 3493377.
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