Aphilodontidae

Aphilodontidae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Myriapoda
Class: Chilopoda
Order: Geophilomorpha
Family: Aphilodontidae
Silvestri, 1909[1]
Genera[2]

Aphilodontidae is a monophyletic clade of soil centipedes in the family Geophilidae[3] found in South America and South Africa. These centipedes are closely related to Geoperingueyia and characterized by shieldlike setae on the front of the head, lateral parts of the flattened cuticle above the mouthparts, and combined forcipular trochanteroprefemur and femur.[4] The number of legs in this clade varies within species as well as among species and ranges from as few as 33 pairs of legs (in Mecophilus carioca)[5] to as many as 93 pairs (in Aphilodon cangaceiro).[6] The three species in the Brazilian genus Mecophilus have the fewest legs (33 or 35 pairs) and smallest size (6.5 to 8 mm in length) in this clade.[5] The two species with the fewest legs in the Neotropical genus Aphilodon also feature notably modest numbers: A. meganae (37 pairs in males, 39 in females) and A. indespectus (39 pairs in males, 41 in females).[6] A. meganae is also notable for its small size (7 to 8 mm in length), the smallest in its genus.[6] Species with more legs also exhibit greater variation in the number of leg pairs (e.g., A. cangaceiro, with odd numbers ranging from 87 to 91 in males, 89 to 93 in females).[6] The largest species in this clade (A. micronyx and A. pereirai) can reach 70 mm in length.[6]

  1. ^ Silvestri,F. "Contribuzioni alla conoscenza dei Chilopodi, IV. Descrizione di alcuni generi e especie di Geophilomorpha" Boll. Lab. Zool. Gen. Agr. , Portici 4, 50–64 (1909)
  2. ^ Aphilodontidae in GBIF Secretariat (2023). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via https://www.gbif.org/species/8264 on 17 June 2024.
  3. ^ Bonato, Lucio; Drago, Leandro; Murienne, Jerome (2014). "Phylogeny of Geophilomorpha (Chilopoda) inferred from new morphological and molecular evidence". Cladistics. The International Journal of the Willi Hennig Society. 30 (5): 485–507. doi:10.1111/cla.12060. PMID 34794246. S2CID 86204188.
  4. ^ Calvanese, Victor C. (15 November 2019). "Revision of the Neotropical species of Aphilodontinae (Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae), with eight new species and a first phylogenetic analysis of the subfamily". Zootaxa. 4698 (1): zootaxa.4698.1.1. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4698.1.1. PMID 32229999. S2CID 209592191. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  5. ^ a b Calvanese, Victor C.; Brescovit, Antonio D. (18 January 2022). "A new species of Mecophilus (Geophilidae: Aphilodontinae), with the first report of the genus from the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil". Zootaxa. 5092 (1): 134–142. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5092.1.8. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 35391216. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e Calvanese, Victor C.; Brescovit, Antonio D. (7 March 2022). "Six new species of Aphilodon centipedes (Geophilidae: Aphilodontinae) from Brazil". Zootaxa. 5105 (4): 539–558. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5105.4.4. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 35391288. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 7 December 2023.