Glomeridesmida is an order of

millipedes 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 resu ...

in the infraclass

Pentazonia Pentazonia is a taxonomic infraclass of millipedes containing the pill-millipedes (Oniscomorpha) which can roll into a ball and the order Glomeridesmida which cannot. Defining traits (apomorphies) include divided sternites, a labrum with single ...

containing 2 families and at least 31 species. Glomeridesmida is the only living order of the superorder Limacomorpha. Glomeridesmidans are small (less than ) and somewhat flattened, and unlike other orders of Pentazonia, are unable to roll into a ball. Ocelli (eyes) are absent. Adult females in this order have 36 pairs of legs and 21 segments, counting 20 tergites plus the anal shield. Male specimens in this order are rare, unknown for all species in the family Termitodesmidae, and known for only a small number of species in the family Glomeridesmidae. Descriptions of mature males in at least three species (''Glomeridesmus spelaeus'', ''G. siamensis'', and ''G. marmoreus'') report 35 pairs of legs, including a pair of telopods, and 20 segments, one fewer than the 21 segments found in adult females. The description of an adult male of another species (''G. indus''), however, reports 37 pairs of legs, including a pair of telopods, and the same 21 segments normally found in adult females. Glomeridesmidans occur in the New World Tropics,

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

. Two species are known cave-dwellers, and, like other

troglomorphic Troglomorphism is the morphological adaptation of an animal to living in the constant darkness of caves, characterised by features such as loss of pigment, reduced eyesight or blindness, and frequently with attenuated bodies and/or appendages. The ...

animals are translucent from loss of pigment. The five known species of '' Termitodesmus'' (constituting the family Termitodesmidae) have a

commensal relationship Commensalism is a long-term biological interaction (symbiosis) in which members of one species gain benefits while those of the other species neither benefit nor are harmed. This is in contrast with mutualism (biology), mutualism, in which both o ...

with

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattode ...

Classification

* Glomeridesmidae Latzel, 1884 - 31 species;

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, Middle America * Termitodesmidae Silvestri, 1911 - 5 species;

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 ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

References

External links

* *
Photographs of Glomeridesmidans

Discovery of a translucent ancient millipede in a threatened iron-ore cave in Brazil
research from the

Museum Koenig The Alexander Koenig Zoological Research Museum (German: ''Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig'', abbreviated ZFMK) is a natural history museum and zoological research institution in Bonn, Germany. The museum is named after Alexander K ...

. Millipede orders {{myriapoda-stub