The milliped families Spirostreptidae (Spirostreptida) and Paradoxosomatidae (Polydesmida) in the Middle East; first records of the Diplopoda from Saudi Arabia

Authors

Rowland M. Shelley, North Carolina State Museum of Natural SciencesFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

7-24-2009

Comments

Published in Insecta Mundi 0083: 1-6. Published in 2009 by Center for Systematic Entomology, Inc., P. O. Box 141874, Gainesville, FL 32614-1874 U. S. A. http://www.centerforsystematicentomology.org/

Abstract

The class Diplopoda, represented by the families Spirostreptidae (Spirostreptida) and Paradoxosomatidae (Polydesmida), is recorded from Saudi Arabia for the first time. Archispirostreptus transmarinus Hoffman, 1965 (Spirostreptidae) inhabits the Jabal Al-Hijaz Mountains in the southwest, and the Paradoxosomatidae, represented by an unidentifiable, indigenous female, occurs in a “wadi” in the center of the country. Other Middle Eastern familial records are documented, and occurrences in the Arabian Peninsula are mapped. Males, necessary to identify the paradoxosomatid, may be encountered if samplings are timed to coincide with seasonal rains.