Scolopendra polymorpha, antennae, forcipular coxosternite, prefemoral spines, second maxilla, second maxillae, distomesal prefemoral process, prefemoral spine

General description: 

Species concept: Morphological Species Concept

Diagnosis: Antennae with (21)25-31 antennal articles. Basal 3-16 (usually 7-12) antennal articles sparsely hirsute (but see remarks). Cephalic plate without longitudinal paramedian sutures. Articles 2 and 3 of second maxillae ventrally rounded, without ventral ridges. Forcipular coxosternite without transverse suture. T1 with anterior transverse sulcus. T21 with median longitudinal suture. LL19-20 without dorsodistal prefemoral spines. Distomesal prefemoral process of L21 with 4-12 (usually 4) distal spines.

See Shelley (2002: 13, 22)[1] and Lewis (2016: 24, Table 1)[2].

References

  1. R. M. Shelley, “A synopsis of the North American centipedes of the order Scolopendromorpha (Chilopoda)”, Virginia Museum of Natural History Memoir, vol. 5, pp. 1-108, 2002.
  2. J. G. E. Lewis, “On the consistency of some taxonomic characters in the Scolopendromorpha and comments on the scolopocryptopid subfamily Kethopinae (Myriapoda: Chilopoda)”, Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemicae, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 21-31, 2016.
Distribution: 

Scolopendra polymorpha occurs in the USA and Mexico, and it has been introduced into the Hawaiian Islands. USA: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California (see Shelley, 2002: 23[1]). Recorded from the Hawaiian Islands by Selley (2000: 44)[2]. Recorded from Louisiana, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington by Shelley (2002: 25-27)[1]. It does not occur at high elevations in the Rocky Mountains and associated ranges in the USA, from northern New Mexico northward and in the eastern Colorado Plateau, so its range is not continuous in the north (Shelley, 2002: 24[1]; Shelley, 2006: 16[3]). Mexico: Baja California (Norte), Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Sonora, Querétaro, and Puebla (see Shelley, 2002: 23[1]). Recorded from Coahuila, Nuevo León, Durango, Zacatecas, and Guerrero by Shelley (2002: 28)[1]. Recorded from Jalisco by Cupul-Magaña (2009: 81-82)[4]. Recorded from México City (as the former Distrito Federal), Hidalgo, Morelos, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas by Cupul-Magaña (2010: 4-5)[5]. Recorded from Michoacán by Cupul-Magaña (2013: 5)[6]. Recorded from Tres Marías Islands (offshore Nayarit) by Pocock (1895: 19-20)[7] under the name Scolopendra copeana, a subsequent spelling of Scolopendra copeiana Wood, 1862. The first definite island record from the archipelago is from María Cleofas Island by Flores-Guerrero et al. (2018: 3)[8].

Deleted records: Central America, Belize, Honduras, Venezuela, and Brazil were deleted by Shelley (2002: 25)[1]). Shelley (2006: 16)[3] wrote "possibly Belize". Reported from Iraq by Ahmed & Hussen (2017)[9] but their figure 3 depicts Scolopendra valida. The record from Iraq was repeated by Flores-Guerrero et al. (2018: 1)[8] without comment.

References

  1. R. M. Shelley, “A synopsis of the North American centipedes of the order Scolopendromorpha (Chilopoda)”, Virginia Museum of Natural History Memoir, vol. 5, pp. 1-108, 2002.
  2. R. M. Shelley, “The centipede order Scolopendromorpha in the Hawaiian Islands (Chilopoda)”, Bishop Museum Occasional Papers, vol. 64, pp. 39-48, 2000.
  3. R. M. Shelley, “A chronological catalog of the New World species of Scolopendra L., 1758 (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae)”, Zootaxa, vol. 1253, no. 1, pp. 1-50, 2006.
  4. F. Gán Cupul-Magaña, “Nuevas localidades para quilópodos (Chilopoda) en la costa de Jalisco y Sinaloa, México”, Dugesiana, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 81-85, 2009.
  5. F. Gán Cupul-Magaña, “An annotated list of the centipedes (Chilopoda) in the National Collection of Arachnids, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México”, Insecta Mundi, vol. 125, pp. 1-10, 2010.
  6. F. Gán Cupul-Magaña, “An annotated list of the centipedes (Chilopoda) in the National Collection of Arachnids, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Addendum: Scutigeromorpha and Scolopendromorpha”, Insecta Mundi, vol. 282, pp. 1-10, 2013.
  7. R. I. Pocock, “Chilopoda. Part CXXVI.”, in Biologia Centrali-Americana; or, Contributions to the Knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of Mexico and Central America. Zoology. Chilopoda and Diplopoda., vol. 14, London: Taylor & Francis, 1895, pp. 1-24.
  8. U. Sebastián Flores-Guerrero, de la Barrera, I. Eduardo Hu, and Cupul-Magaña, F. Gán, “Registro del ciempiés Scolopendra polymorpha Wood, 1861 (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae) en la Isla María Cleofas, Océano Pacifico de México”, Acta Zoológica Mexicana (nueva serie), vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 1-4, 2018.
  9. S. T. Ahmed and Hussen, F. Sh., “First record of two Scolopendromorph centipedes; Scolopendra subspinipes Leach, (1815) and Scolopendra polymorpha Wood, (1861) with additional notes on Scolopendra cingulata Latreille, (1829) in Iraq”, ZANCO Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 174-182, 2017.
Taxonomic name: 
Scolopendra polymorpha (Taxonomy), antennae (Morphology), forcipular coxosternite (Morphology), prefemoral spines (Morphology), second maxilla (Morphology), second maxillae (Morphology), distomesal prefemoral process (Morphology), prefemoral spine (Morphology)
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith