''Geophilus gracilis'' is a
species of
soil centipede
Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an a ...
in the
family Geophilidae
The Geophilidae are a polyphyletic, cosmopolitan family of soil centipedes in the superfamily Geophiloidea containing the mostly defunct clades Aphilodontidae, Dignathodontidae, Linotaeniidae, Chilenophilinae, and Macronicophilidae. Species in ...
found most commonly in Britain and Ireland, though specimens have also been recorded in Chile, France, Greece, and Algeria. It lives under mud and stones along the coast near or below the high tide mark, grows up to 30 millimeters in length, and is bright yellow in color with a darker reddish head. Males of this species have 51 to 57 pairs of legs; females have 51 to 61 leg pairs. This species is often confused with ''
G. flavus'' and, in coastal locations, ''
G. osquidatum''.
Taxonomy
''G. gracilis'' was found to be synonymous with ''G. fucorum seurati'', a subspecies of ''
G. fucorum'', and is closely related to both ''
G. algarum'' and ''
G. fucorum''. It is differentiated from the two by 3–5
labral teeth, an absence of a clear
clypeal area, 7–15 prehensorial teeth, 2–5 ventral (posterior) pores, and a claw of the anal leg that ranges from small to large. Several characters of ''G. gracilis'' are intermediate between those of ''G. algarum'' and ''G. fucorum'', leading some to believe that the three are a single
polytypic species consisting of highly individual subspecies.
References
gracilis
Animals described in 1870
Taxa named by Frederik Vilhelm August Meinert
{{Myriapoda-stub