''Scutigerella immaculata'', commonly known as the garden symphylan or glasshouse symphylid, is a species of

myriapod Myriapods () are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial. The fossil record of myriapods reaches back into the late Silurian, a ...

in the family

Scutigerellidae Scutigerellidae is a family of symphylans. There are at least three genera and 30 described species in Scutigerellidae. The oldest described species of the family are members of the extant genera ''Hanseniella'' and ''Scutigerella'' from E ...

. It may have originated in Europe but now has a

cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The ext ...

and can be a pest of crops.

Description

Superficially the garden symphylan resembles a centipede. It is white and up to long. It has a head with three pairs of mouthparts, a pair of long antennae and no eyes. The body is segmented, the front twelve segments each bearing a pair of short legs, while the two remaining segments are limbless. The body is covered by up to 22 dorsal, slightly

sclerotised Sclerotin is a component of the cuticle of various Arthropoda, most familiarly insects. It is formed by cross-linking members of particular classes of protein molecules, a biochemical process called sclerotization, a form of tanning in which qui ...

tergites 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 'mar ...

. The legs work in unison, the two sides alternating.

Distribution and habitat

The garden symphylan occurs in most parts of the world, having been transported inadvertently with plants: it probably originated in Europe. It lives in humus-rich soil, under stones, in leaf litter, in rotting wood, in decaying matter and in other moist places. It does not burrow but takes advantage of existing cracks. It needs high humidity levels to survive; if the relative humidity in the soil is below 75%, about 95% mortality occurs within three hours, but placing a

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...

leaf on the soil surface reduces the mortality rate considerably.}

Ecology

Symphylans are rapid runners and the extra tergites give the body great flexibility, so they can twist, turn and loop, manoeuvring between soil particles rapidly in order to escape

predators Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

. They primarily feed on plant roots and

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

. The sexes are separate in the garden symphylan. The male deposits small stalked

spermatophore A spermatophore or sperm ampulla is a capsule or mass containing spermatozoa created by males of various animal species, especially salamanders and arthropods, and transferred in entirety to the female's ovipore during reproduction. Spermatophores ...

s which the female picks up, storing the sperm in receptacles in her mouth. She produces eggs singly through a

gonopore A gonopore, sometimes called a gonadopore, is a genital pore in many invertebrates. Hexapods, including insects have a single common gonopore, except mayflies, which have a pair of gonopores. More specifically, in the unmodified female it is the ...

on the fourth segment, and transfers them by mouth to a frond of

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

or similar location, where each is fixed and smeared with sperm. Development is direct; the newly hatched juvenile has six pairs of legs, and these increase in number as the animal grows extra segments. Moulting takes place throughout the animal's life, and it may survive for up to four years. Large populations of garden symphylan can cause damage to crops by feeding on the root hairs, roots and tubers, the plants showing loss of vigour and reduced growth. Susceptible crops include

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es,

beetroot The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...

and

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q6497995 Myriapods Myriapods of Europe Animals described in 1845