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Sphaerotheriida
Sphaerotheriida is an order of millipedes in the infraclass Pentazonia, sometimes known as giant pill millipedes. They inhabit Southern Africa, Madagascar, South and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Like the Northern Hemisphere pill millipedes of the order Glomerida, these millipedes can roll into a ball when disturbed. When they are rolled-up, most sphaerotheriidans reach a maximum size of a cherry or golf ball, but some species from Madagascar can even reach the size of an orange (an example of island gigantism; illustration . When rolled-up, predators are unable to unravel giant pill millipedes since the margins of their second and last dorsal plates fit perfectly into one another, creating a sealed ball. A few giant pill millipede species are able to produce sound, the only millipedes known to do this. This order of millipedes is also unique in that some African species are used for medicinal purposes. Morphology Sphaerotheriidans are characterized by a relatively ...
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Sphaerotheriidae
Sphaerotheriidae is a family of giant pill millipedes of the class Diplopoda. Millipedes of this family are distributed in southern Africa. Selected genera :''Sphaerotherium'' Brandt, 1833, 54 species, South Africa, Zimbabwe :'' Kylindotherium'' Attems The House of Attems (Attimis in Italian) is the name of an ancient and illustrious Friulian parliamentary family that held the titles of princes, counts and barons. The family, from the native castle of Attimis, branched off into Italy and Austri ..., 1926, monotypic, South Africa References Sphaerotheriida Millipedes of Africa Millipede families {{myriapoda-stub ...
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Zephroniidae
Zephroniidae (sometimes misspelled "Zephronidae") is a family of giant pill millipedes in the taxonomic order Sphaerotheriida. They occur in southeast Asia from the Himalayas and China south and east to Sulawesi and to Australia, and also inhabit some Philippine islands. Genera in the family Zephroniidae: :'' Bothrobelum'' Verhoeff, 1924 – monotypic, Borneo :'' Castanotherium'' Pocock, 1895 – 50 species, Indonesian Islands, Philippines :'' Castanotheroides'' Chamberlin, 1921 – 3 species, Philippines :'' Cryxus'' Leach, 1814 – monotypic, Asia :'' Cynotelopus'' Jeekel, 1986 :'' Indosphaera'' Attems, 1935 – 2 species N. India, Myanmar :'' Kophosphaera'' Attems, 1935 – 5 species, N. India, Nepal :'' Leptoprotopus'' :'' Leptotelopus'' Silvestri, 1897 – monotypic, Myanmar :'' Prionobelum'' Verhoeff, 1924 – 8 species, Vietnam, SW China :'' Pulusphaera'' :'' Rajasphaera'' Attems, 1935 – monotypic, Borneo :'' Sphaerobelum'' Verhoeff, 1924 – 4 species, Vietnam :'' ...
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Arthrosphaeridae
Arthrosphaeridae is a family of giant pill millipedes that are found in Madagascar, the Western Ghats of India, and Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an .... 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. Description 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. Taxonomy Within the family ''Arthrosphaeridae'' there are four genus formally described: * '' Arthrosphaera'' Pocock, 189 ...
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Procyliosomatidae
''Procyliosoma'' is a genus of pill millipede found in Australia and New Zealand. Formerly classified in the family Sphaerotheriidae, in 2009 ''Procyliosoma'' was reclassified as the only genus in the family Procyliosomatidae. Species * ''Procyliosoma andersoni'' (Verhoeff, 1928) – New South Wales * ''Procyliosoma aurivillii'' Silvestri, 1917 – Queensland * ''Procyliosoma castaneum'' (Verhoeff, 1924) – Queensland * ''Procyliosoma delacyi'' (White, 1859) – New Zealand * ''Procyliosoma dorrigense'' (Verhoeff, 1928) – New South Wales * ''Procyliosoma leae'' Silvestri, 1917 – Tasmania * ''Procyliosoma leiosomum'' Hutton, 1877 – New Zealand * ''Procyliosoma tasmanicum'' Silvestri, 1917 – Tasmania * ''Procyliosoma tuberculatum'' Silvestri, 1917 – New Zealand * ''Procyliosoma walesianum'' (Karsch, 1881) – New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , su ...
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Telopod
Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a result of two single segments fused together. Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical or flattened bodies with more than 20 segments, while pill millipedes are shorter and can roll into a tight ball. Although the name "millipede" derives from the Latin for "thousand feet", no species was known to have 1,000 or more until the discovery of ''Eumillipes persephone'', which can have over 1,300 legs. There are approximately 12,000 named species classified into 16 orders and around 140 families, making Diplopoda the largest class of myriapods, an arthropod group which also includes centipedes and other multi-legged creatures. Most millipedes are slow-moving detritivores, eating decaying leaves and other dead plant matter. Some eat fungi or d ...
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Millipede
Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a result of two single segments fused together. Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical or flattened bodies with more than 20 segments, while pill millipedes are shorter and can roll into a tight ball. Although the name "millipede" derives from the Latin for "thousand feet", no species was known to have 1,000 or more until the discovery of ''Eumillipes persephone'', which can have over 1,300 legs. There are approximately 12,000 named species classified into 16 orders and around 140 families, making Diplopoda the largest class of myriapods, an arthropod group which also includes centipedes and other multi-legged creatures. Most millipedes are slow-moving detritivores, eating decaying leaves and other dead plant matter. Some eat fungi or ...
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Glomerida
Glomerida is an order of pill-millipedes found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. They superficially resemble pill-bugs or woodlice, and can enroll into a protective ball. They have twelve body segments, 17 to 19 pairs of legs, and males have enlarged rear legs involved in mating. The order includes about 30 genera and at least 280 species, including ''Glomeris marginata'', the common European pill-millipede. The order contains members in Europe, South-east Asia and the Americas from California to Guatemala. Although historically considered closely related with the similar sphaerotheriidans that also enroll, some DNA evidence suggest they may be more closely related to glomeridesmidans, a poorly known order that does not enroll. Description Glomeridans are small, oval-shaped millipedes reaching up to long. Like the Sphaerotheriida (so-called Giant Pill-millipedes), they are capable of enrolling into a ball ("volvation"), a trait also shared with the unrelated pillbugs (Oni ...
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Stridulation
Stridulation is the act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts. This behavior is mostly associated with insects, but other animals are known to do this as well, such as a number of species of fish, snakes and spiders. The mechanism is typically that of one structure with a well-defined lip, ridge, or nodules (the "scraper" or ''plectrum'') being moved across a finely-ridged surface (the "file" or ''stridulitrum''—sometimes called the ''pars stridens'') or vice versa, and vibrating as it does so, like the dragging of a phonograph needle across a vinyl record. Sometimes it is the structure bearing the file which resonates to produce the sound, but in other cases it is the structure bearing the scraper, with both variants possible in related groups. Common onomatopoeic words for the sounds produced by stridulation include ''chirp'' and ''chirrup''. Arthropod stridulation Insects and other arthropods stridulate by rubbing together two parts of the body. These a ...
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Genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus '' Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. phylogenetic analysis should clearly demons ...
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Dorsum (biology)
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek language, Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provides a definition of what is at the front ("anterior"), behind ("posterior") and so on. As part of defining and describing terms, the body is described through the use of anatomical planes and anatomical axis, anatomical axes. The meaning of terms that are used can change depending on whether an organism is bipedal or quadrupedal. Additionally, for some animals such as invertebrates, some terms may not have any meaning at all; for example, an animal that is radially symmetrical will have no anterior surface, but can still have a description that a part is close to the middle ("proximal") or further from the middle ("distal"). International organisations have determined vocabularies that are often used as standard vocabular ...
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Tergite
A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'margin'. A given tergum may be divided into hardened plates or sclerites commonly referred to as tergites. In a thoracic segment, for example, the tergum may be divided into an anterior notum and a posterior scutellum. Lateral extensions of a tergite are known as paranota (Greek for "alongside the back") or ''carinae'' (Latin for "keel"), exemplified by the flat-backed millipedes of the order Polydesmida. Kinorhynchs have tergal and sternal plates too, though seemingly not homologous with those of arthropods. Tergo-tergal is a stridulatory mechanism in which fine spines of the abdominal tergites are rubbed together to produce sound. This process is known as abdominal telescoping. Examples File:Andrena spiraeana abdomen.jpg , Abdominal t ...
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Johann Friedrich Von Brandt
Johann Friedrich von Brandt (25 May 1802 – 15 July 1879) was a German-Russian natural history, naturalist, who worked mostly in Russia. Brandt was born in Jüterbog and educated at a Gymnasium (school), gymnasium in Wittenberg and the Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Berlin. In 1831 he emigrated to Russia, and soon was appointed director of the Zoological Museum of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Brandt encouraged the collection of native animals, many of which were not represented in the museum. Many specimens began to arrive from the expeditions of Nikolai Alekseevich Severtzov, Severtzov, Nikolai Przhevalsky, Przhevalsky, Aleksandr Fyodorovich Middendorf, Middendorff, Leopold von Schrenck, Schrenck and Gustav Radde. He described several birds collected by Russian explorers off the Pacific Coast of North America, including Brandt's cormorant, red-legged kittiwake and spectacled eider. As a paleontologist, Brandt ranks among the best. He was also an entomo ...
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