Geophilomorpha

Geophilus insculptus, copyright Trevor & Dilys Pendleton.

Belongs within: Myriapoda.
Contains: Mecistocephalinae.

The Geophilomorpha are a group of slender, extremely elongate centipedes that live in burrows or crevices. With a species, the number of body segments is usually constant in members of the Mecistocephalidae, but it may vary in members of the clade Adesmata (Bonato et al. 2003).

Characters (from Mundel 1990): Eyes absent; antennae with 14 segments. Number of pedal segments varying from 31 to over 180.

<==Geophilomorpha
    |--Adesmata BFM03
    |    |  i. s.: Stigmatogaster gracilis Meinert 1870 BFM03
    |    |--Geophilidae BFM03
    |    |    |--Pachymerium [Pachymeriidae] BFM03
    |    |    |    `--‘Geophilus’ attenuatus Say 1821 [incl. G. ferrugineus Koch 1835] BFM03
    |    |    `--Geophilus BFM03
    |    |         |--G. flavidus A01
    |    |         |    |--G. f. flavidus A01
    |    |         |    `--G. f. escherichii Verh. 1896 A01
    |    |         |--G. ganonotus Attems 1901 A01
    |    |         |--G. infossulatus Attems 1901 A01
    |    |         |--G. insculptus Attems 1895 BFM03
    |    |         `--G. sibiricus A01
    |    `--Chilenophilidae [Chilenophilinae] K54
    |         |--Ribautia GEW01
    |         |--Lestophilus K54
    |         |--Nesidiphilus Chamberlin 1915 [incl. Suturodes Chamberlin 1922] K54
    |         |    |--N. montecristi Kraus 1954 K54
    |         |    `--N. tardus (Chamberlin 1922) K54
    |         `--Polycricus Saussure & Humbert 1872 K54
    |              |--P. aequatorialis Silvestri 1902 K54
    |              `--P. toltecus (Humbert & Saussure 1869) (see below for synonymy) K54
    `--Mecistocephalidae [Dicellophilidae] BFM03
         |--Arrupinae BFM03
         |    |  i. s.: Partygarrupius Verhoeff 1939 BFM03
         |    |--Agnostrup Foddai, Bonato et al. 2003 BFM03
         |    |    `--A. paucipes (Miyosi 1955) BFM03
         |    `--+--Nannarrup Foddai, Bonato et al. 2003 BFM03
         |       |    `--*N. hoffmani Foddai, Bonato et al. 2003 BFM03
         |       `--Arrup Chamberlin 1912 [incl. Nodocephalus Attems 1928, Prolamnonyx Silvestri 1919] BFM03
         |           |--A. holstii (Pocock 1895) BFM03
         |           `--+--*A. pylorus Chamberlin 1912 BFM03
         |              `--A. dentatus (Takakuwa 1934) BFM03
         `--+--Mecistocephalinae BFM03
            `--Dicellophilinae BFM03
                 |--Proterotaiwanella Bonato, Foddai & Minelli 2002 BFM03
                 |    |--*P. tanabei Bonato, Foddai & Minelli 2002 BFM03
                 |    `--P. sculptulata (Takakuwa 1936) BFM03
                 `--+--Anarrup Chamberlin 1920 [incl. Sundarrup Attems 1930] BFM03
                    |    |--*A. nesiotes Chamberlin 1920 BFM03
                    |    `--A. flavipes (Attems 1930) [=*Sundarrup flavipes] BFM03
                    `--Dicellophilus Cook 1896 BFM03
                         |--D. carniolensis (Koch 1847) BFM03
                         `--+--D. latifrons Takakuwa 1934 BFM03
                            `--+--*D. limatus (Wood 1862) BFM03
                               `--D. anomalus (Chamberlin 1904) BFM03

Geophilomorpha incertae sedis:
  Oryidae M90
    |--Orphnaeus brevilabiatus (Newport 1845) [=Geophilus brevilabiatus] K54
    `--Notiphilides maximilani (Humbert & Saussure 1870) (see below for synonymy) K55
  Schendylurus K55 [Schendylidae M90, Schendylinae]
    `--S. pallidus Kraus 1955 K55
  Strigamia [Linotaeniidae] BFM03
    `--S. maritima CV16
  Zelanion antipodus MG06
  Soniphilidae M90
  Sogonidae M90
  Tampiyidae M90
  Aphilodontidae M90
  Eriphantidae M90
  Dignathodontidae M90
  Himantaridae M90
  Ballophilidae M90
  Neogeophilidae M90
  Gonibregmatidae M90
  Tuoba laticeps MC13

Notiphilides maximilani (Humbert & Saussure 1870) [=Notiphilus maximilani; incl. Keporya miranda Chamberlin 1941, Notiphilides maximilani miranda] K55

Polycricus toltecus (Humbert & Saussure 1869) [=Arthronomalus toltecus, A. (Polycricus) toltecus, Geophilus toltecus] K54

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A01] Attems, C. Graf. 1901. Myriopodák [Myriopoden]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 275–310. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[BFM03] Bonato, L., D. Foddai & A. Minelli. 2003. Evolutionary trends and patterns in centipede segment number based on a cladistic analysis of Mecistocephalidae (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha). Systematic Entomology 28: 539–579.

[CV16] Cannon, J. T., B. C. Vellutini, J. Smith, III, F. Ronquist, U. Jondelius & A. Hejnol. 2016. Xenacoelomorpha is the sister group to Nephrozoa. Nature 530: 89–93.

[GEW01] Giribet, G., G. D. Edgecombe & W. C. Wheeler. 2001. Arthropod phylogeny based on eight molecular loci and morphology. Nature 413: 157–161.

[K54] Kraus, O. 1954. Myriapoden aus El Salvador. Senckenbergiana Biologica 35 (5-6): 293–349.

[K55] Kraus, O. 1955. Myriapoden aus Peru, III. Senckenbergiana Biologica 36 (3-4): 173–200.

[MC13] Majer, J. D., S. K. Callan, K. Edwards, N. R. Gunawardene & C. K. Taylor. 2013. Baseline survey of the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Barrow Island. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 83: 13–112.

[MG06] Mallatt, J., & G. Giribet. 2006. Further use of nearly complete 28S and 18S rRNA genes to classify Ecdysozoa: 37 more arthropods and a kinorhynch. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40: 772–794.

[M90] Mundel, P. 1990. Chilopoda. In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 819–833. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

Last updated: 5 November 2017.