Upland centipedes in North Wales with a review of the Welsh Chilopoda

Since Eason’s (1957) paper on centipedes from Carnarvonshire there has been an accumulation of centipede records from various parts of Wales but relatively few are from upland areas. Recent records from Snowdonia included several species, including Lithobius (Monotarsobius) curtipes, from locations up to around 1,000m. We present a review of centipedes recorded from the 13 Welsh vice-counties which includes 41 species, 4 of which are from buildings or heated greenhouses, 4 apparently obligate halophiles from coastal sites and one doubtful. Wales has a variety of types of habitat including both lowland and montane rural areas and urban/industrial/post-industrial locations which no doubt contributes to the diversity of its chilopod fauna.