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The millipede fauna inhabiting deep soil are poorly known. They are small and threadlike, slow moving, lacking pigmentation, and rarely encountered due to their obscure underground way of life. One family, the Siphonorhinidae, encompasses four genera and 12 species in a fragmentary distribution in California, southern Africa, Madagascar, the Malay Archipelago, and Indo-Burma. The family is represented in the Western Hemisphere by a single genus, Illacme Cook & Loomis, 1928 from California, with its closest known relative, Nematozonium filum Verhoeff, 1939, from southern Africa. A new species of this family is documented from soil microhabitats in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Illacme socal Marek & Shear, sp. nov. Based on this discovery and the recent documentation of other endogean millipede species, we show that these grossly understudied subterranean fauna represent the next frontier of discovery. However, they are threatened by encroaching human settlement and habitat loss, and conservation of this species and other subterranean fauna is of high importance.
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This content will become publicly available on November 20, 2026
Cave millipedes of the United States. XVII. A new troglobiotic Nevadesmus Shear, 2009 from an Arizona cave (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Macrosternodesmidae) with observations on associated fauna and ecology
A third species of the macrosternodesmid millipede genus Nevadesmus Shear, 2009 is described from a cave in Tonto National Forest, Pinal Co., southern Arizona, USA. This new species, Nevadesmus superstitiona Shear, Pape & Marek, sp. nov. occurs significantly distant from the localities of the two other species, which occur in Nevada. The epigean and hypogean settings of the cave site and remarks on its natural history are provided. Thirty-two animal taxa are present in the cave, including the new millipede. Four other endemic troglobiotic species are present: a scorpion (Pseudouroctonus sp.: Vaejovidae), a terrestrial isopod (Brackenridgia sp.: Trichoniscidae), a silverfish (Speleonycta sp.: Nicoletiidae) and a thread-legged bug (Gardena cf. elkinsi: Reduviidae). A resident population of the tailless whip scorpion (Paraphrynus tokdod: Amblypygi: Phrynidae) is the first record of this family in an Arizona Cave. Tonto National Forest Cave #34 is the second most species diverse cave currently known in Arizona.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2433355
- PAR ID:
- 10649457
- Publisher / Repository:
- Magnolia Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Zootaxa
- Volume:
- 5722
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 1175-5326
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 433 to 442
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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