Pleuroloma flavipes
Male (top) and female (bottom) wandering cherry millipedes, Pleuroloma flavipes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Myriapoda
Class: Diplopoda
Order: Polydesmida
Family: Xystodesmidae
Genus: Pleuroloma
Species:
P. flavipes
Binomial name
Pleuroloma flavipes

Pleuroloma flavipes, commonly known as the traveling cherry millipede,[1] is a species of flat-backed millipede in the family Xystodesmidae.[2] It has the widest distribution of any species of xystodesmid millipede and is found in eastern North America from southeastern North Dakota, eastward to Connecticut, and southward to North Carolina, northern Louisiana, and southern Texas.[3] Pleuroloma flavipes millipedes are occasionally observed in large aggregations of individuals where they appear to move en masse in a certain direction, hence the common name "wandering cherry millipede".[4] In a report from 1950, an aggregation of about 6,000 individuals were encountered on a single bridge at McCormick's Creek State Park, Indiana.[5] The species is extremely variable in coloration, and converges in appearance with several species of Apheloria and Brachoria as a result of mimicry.[6]

Pleuroloma flavipes fluorescing under 365 nanometer ultraviolet light

References

  1. ↑ Hennen, D.; Brown, J. (2021). Millipedes of Ohio field guide (PDF). Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, Columbus, OH. pp. 1–75.
  2. ↑ Means, J.; Hennen, D.; Tanabe, T.; Marek, P. (2021). "Phylogenetic Systematics of the Millipede Family Xystodesmidae". Insect Systematics and Diversity. 5 (2): 1–26. doi:10.1093/isd/ixab003. hdl:10919/102616.
  3. ↑ Marek, P.; Tanabe, T.; Sierwald, P. (2014). "A species catalog of the millipede family Xystodesmidae (Diplopoda: Polydesmida)". Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publications. 17: 1–117.
  4. ↑ Shelley, R. (1980). "Revision of the milliped genus Pleuroloma (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae)". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 58 (2): 129–168. doi:10.1139/z80-017.
  5. ↑ Williams, S.; Ward, D. (1950). "An unusual aggregation of the milliped Zinaria butleri (McNeill)". Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science. 60: 329–331.
  6. ↑ Marek, P.; Bond, J. (2009). "A Müllerian mimicry ring in Appalachian millipedes". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 106 (24): 9755–9760. Bibcode:2009PNAS..106.9755M. doi:10.1073/pnas.0810408106. PMC 2700981. PMID 19487663.


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