Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T10:16:58.215Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modified legs (clasping appendages?) of Carboniferous euphoberiid millipeds (Diplopoda: Euphoberiida)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Joseph T. Hannibal
Joseph T. Hannibal*
Affiliation:
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-1767
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Six specimens belonging to several euphoberiid diplopod species have a pair of modified legs located along the midbody. These appendages are robust, much stouter than normal walking legs, and are attached to a sternite that is longer than those preceding and following. Euphoberiid modified legs differ in position from those of modern diplopods, being located neither near the anterior end as are gonopods nor at the anterior or posterior ends, as are clasping appendages of various modern forms. The presence of such appendages supports ordinal status for the euphoberiids.

The prominent spines of euphoberiids would have precluded intertwining types of mating behavior observed in many types of elongate modern diplopods. Judged by their robust nature and location, the modified legs may have been clasping appendages used during the mating process. “Intromittent organs” described on various taxa of fossil Diplopoda by the early paleomyriapodologists Scudder and Fritsch are suspect.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 69 , Issue 5 , September 1995 , pp. 932 - 938
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Burke, J. J. 1973. Notes on the morphology of Acantherpestes (Myriapoda, Archypolypoda) with the description of a new species from the Pennsylvanian of West Virginia. Kirtlandia, 17:1–24.Google Scholar
Burke, J. J. 1979. A new millipede genus, Myriacantherpestes (Diplopoda, Archipolypoda) and a new species, Myriacantherpestes bradebirksi, from the English Coal Measures. Kirtlandia, 30:1–24.Google Scholar
Eisenbeis, G., and Wichard, W. 1987. Atlas on the Biology of Soil Arthropods. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 437 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enghoff, H. 1986. Leg polymorphism in a julid millipede, Anaulaciulus inaequipes n. sp. with a list of congeneric species (Diplopoda, Julida, Julidae). Steenstrupia, 12(7):117–125.Google Scholar
Enghoff, H. 1990. The ground-plan of chilognathan millipedes (external morphology), p. 1–21. In Minelli, A. (ed.), Proceedings of the 7th International Congress of Myriapodology. E. J. Brill, Leiden.Google Scholar
Fritsch, A. 1899. Fauna der Gaskohle und der Kalksteine der Permformation Böhmens, Volume 4. Pt. 1. Prague, 152 p.Google Scholar
Haacker, U. 1974. Patterns of communication in courtship and mating behavior of millipedes (Diplopoda), p. 317–328. In Blower, J. G. (ed.), Symposia of the Zoological Society of London, 32.Google Scholar
Hannibal, J. T. 1981. An unusual modified leg on a euphoberiid milliped, and some observations on other Palaeozoic Diplopoda (Archipolypoda, Oniscomorpha). 5th International Congress of Myriapodology, Abstracts of Papers, 12.Google Scholar
Hannibal, J. T., and Feldmann, R. M. 1988. Millipeds from late Paleozoic limestones at Hamilton, Kansas, p. 125–131. In Mapes, G. and Mapes, R. H. (eds. and comps.), Regional Geology and Paleontology of Upper Paleozoic Hamilton Quarry Area in Southeastern Kansas. Guidebook Series 6, Kansas Geological Survey.Google Scholar
Hoffman, R. L. 1959. Antrogonodesmus, a new chelodesmoid genus from Cuba, and a redescription of Amphelictogon dolius Chamberlin (Polydesmida, Chelodesmidae). Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 49(8):284–289.Google Scholar
Hoffman, R. L. 1969. Myriapoda, exclusive of Insecta. Part R. Arthropoda 4, v. 2, p. R572–R606. In Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Hoffman, R. L. 1980 (“1979”). Classification of the Diplopoda. Muséum D'Histoire Naturelle, Genève, 237 p.Google Scholar
Hoffman, R. L. 1982. Diplopoda, p. 689–724. In Parker, S. P. (ed.), Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms, Volume 2. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York.Google Scholar
Hopkin, S. P., and Read, H. J. 1992. The Biology of Millipedes. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 233 p.Google Scholar
Lacoe, R. D. 1883. List of Palaeozoic Fossil Insects of the United States and Canada. Wyoming Historical and Geological Society Publication no. 5, 21 p.Google Scholar
Manton, S. M. 1977. The Arthropoda: Habits, Functional Morphology, and Evolution. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 527 p.Google Scholar
Mauriès, J.-P. 1981. Description d'une espèce nouvelle et d'un genre nouveau de diplopodes polydesmides hypogés récoltés dans l'arrondissement de Béziers (Hérault). Bulletin de la Société D'Histoire Naturelle de Toulouse, 116:228–234.Google Scholar
Meek, F. B., and Worthen, A. H. 1868. Preliminary notice of a scorpion, a Eurypterus? and other fossils, from the Coal-measures of Illinois. American Journal of Science and Arts, 2nd Series, 46:19–28.Google Scholar
Meléndez, B. 1948. Un miriápodo fósil en el Estefaniense de Llombera (León). Boletín de la Real Sociedad Espanola de Historia Natural, 47:737–741.Google Scholar
Meléndez, B. 1952. Un myriapode du Carbonifère de l'Espagne. Troisième Congrès pour l'Avancement des Études de Stratigraphie et de Géologie du Carbonifère, Heerlen: Compte Rendu, p. 457–458.Google Scholar
Schuchert, C. 1905. Catalogue of the type specimens of fossil invertebrates in the Department of Geology, United States National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum no. 53, pt. 1, 704 p.Google Scholar
Scudder, S. H. 1882. Archipolypoda, a subordinal type of spined myriapods from the Carboniferous formation. Boston Society of Natural History Memoir, 3(5):143–182.Google Scholar
Scudder, S. H. 1890a. The Fossil Insects of North America, with Notes on Some European Species, Volume 1, The Pre-Tertiary Insects. Macmillan, New York, 455 p.Google Scholar
Scudder, S. H. 1890b. New Carboniferous Myriapoda from Illinois. Boston Society of Natural History Memoir, 4:417–442.Google Scholar
Scudder, S. H. 1891. Index to the known fossil insects of the world including myriapods and arachnids. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 71, 744 p.Google Scholar
Shear, W. A. 1994. Myriapodous arthropods from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Earth Sciences, 84:309–316.Google Scholar
Shelley, R. M. 1977. Appendicular abnormalities in the milliped family Xystodesmidae (Polydesmida). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 55(16):1014–1018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silvestri, P. 1903. Classis Diplopoda. v. 1, Anatome. Portici, 272 p.Google Scholar
Verhoeff, K. W. 1926-1932. Diplopoda, p. 1–2084. In Bronn, H. G. (ed.) Klassen und Ordnungen des Tier-Reichs. Akademische Verlag, Leipzig, 5 (2).Google Scholar
Weller, S. 1898. A bibliographic index of North American Carboniferous invertebrates. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 153, 653 p.Google Scholar
Woodward, H. 1887. On some spined myriapods from the Carboniferous series of England. Geological Magazine, Decade III, 4:1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar