Anoplodesmus saussurii
Anoplodesmus saussurii, is a species of millipedes in the family Paradoxosomatidae. It was once thought endemic to Sri Lanka, but later found from Fiji and Mauritius.[1] [2]
Anoplodesmus saussurii | |
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Species: | A. saussurii |
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Anoplodesmus saussurei (Humbert, 1865) | |
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Description
It is about 21–33 mm in length. Adults are shiny dark brown to black in color. They are much largely aggregated species that can be found undercover of decaying litter layers in the agricultural and horticultural land areas and forests on humid soils. Mainly herbivores, they are known to eat any decaying and rotting leaves and vegetable parts, and even wood, decaying fish, and cow dung. After 20 to 25 days of copulation, female laid 200 to 400 eggs in earthen nests. One female may lay 2 to 4 times of egg masses in her lifetime. After seven moultings, stadia come out to surface after the onset of the rainy season.[3] another name for these millipede, is the "almond scented millipede, as it secretes hydrogen cyanide when threatened, which is mild in toxicity and harmless to humans, however this feature decreases the number of predators it has in the wild as predators such as birds that consume it will die after consuming them.
References
- De Zoysa, H. K. S.; Nguyen, Anh D.; Wickramasinghe, S. (2016). "Annotated checklist of millipedes (Myriapoda: Diplopoda) of Sri Lanka". Zootaxa. 4061 (5): 451. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4061.5.1. PMID 27395514.
- Golovatch, Sergei; Stoev, Pavel (2013). "The millipede family Paradoxosomatidae in the Philippines, with a description of Eustrongylosoma penevi sp.n., and notes on Anoplodesmus anthracinus Pocock, 1895, recorded in Malaysia and Sri Lanka for the first time (Diplopoda, Polydesmida)". Biodiversity Data Journal. 1: e957. doi:10.3897/BDJ.1.e957. PMC 3964709. PMID 24723759.
- Decker, Peter; Trudy Tertilt (2012). "First records of two introduced millipedes Anoplodesmus saussurii and Chondromorpha xanthotricha (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae) in Singapore" (PDF). Nature in Singapore. 5: 141–149.