Animalia > Arthropoda > Diplopoda > Sphaerotheriida > Arthrosphaeridae > Sphaeromimus

Sphaeromimus

Wikipedia Abstract

Sphaeromimus (Latin: sphere mimic), or the chirping giant pill millipedes, is a genus of giant pill millipedes (order Sphaerotheriida) endemic to southeastern Madagascar. Though described in 1902, the genus was up to 2005 known from a single male specimen, whose appearance was so unusual that the authors suspected a mislabeled giant pill-millipede from India. Their unusual and distinct morphology includes well-developed stridulation organs, probably as devices for courtship. These are the male ‘harp’ and the female ‘washboard’, which contain more stridulation ribs than in other members of the order Sphaerotheriida. They have a closer affinity with the Indian genus Arthrosphaera than to other Malagasy genera, though all belong to the Arthrosphaeridae.
View Wikipedia Record: Sphaeromimus

Species

Sphaeromimus andohahela
Sphaeromimus andrahomana (Andrahomana Cave Giant Pill-Millipede) (Critically Endangered)
Sphaeromimus inexpectatus (Pink Giant Pill-Millipede) (Endangered)
Sphaeromimus ivohibe
Sphaeromimus kalambatritra
Sphaeromimus lavasoa (Lavasoa Giant Pill-Millipede) (Critically Endangered)
Sphaeromimus midongy
Sphaeromimus musicus
Sphaeromimus saintelucei (Sainte Luce Giant Pill-Millipede) (Critically Endangered)
Sphaeromimus splendidus (Shiny Giant Pill-Millipede) (Critically Endangered)
Sphaeromimus titanus (Manombo Giant Pill-Millipede) (Critically Endangered)
Sphaeromimus vatovavy

External References

Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0