Himantariidae Explained

Himantariidae is a monophyletic family of centipedes in the order Geophilomorpha and superfamily Himantarioidea,^[1] found almost exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere.^[2] Centipedes in this family feature a short head with a concave labral margin bearing a row of denticles, a single dentate lamella and some pectinate lamellae on each mandible, second maxillae with strongly tapering telopodites and slightly spatulate claws, and a stout forcipular segment with short forcipules and a wide tergite; the ultimate legs usually have no pretarsus, and the female gonopods are distinct and biarticulate.^[3]

These centipedes are very elongated with a high mean number of trunk segments (often greater than 100) and great variability in this number within species.^[4] The number of leg-bearing segments in this family ranges from 47 to 181. The maximum number of legs recorded in this family (181 pairs) appears in the species Chomatobius bakeri.^{[5] [6]} The minimum number of legs recorded in this family (47 pairs) appears in the species Garriscaphus oreines,^{[7] [8]}

This family contains these genera:

• Acrophilus
• Bothriogaster
• Californiphilus
• Causerium
• Chomatobius
• Diadenoschisma
• Geoballus
• Gosiphilus
• Gosothrix
• Haplophilus
• Himantariella
• Himantarium
• Meinertophilus
• Mesocanthus
• Nesoporogaster
• Nothobius
• Notiphilus
• Notobius
• Polyporogaster
• Pseudohimantarium
• Stigmatogaster
• Straberax
• Thracophilus

Notes and References

1. Bonato . Lucio . Phylogeny of Geophilomorpha (Chilopoda) inferred from new morphological and molecular evidence . Cladistics. The International Journal of the Willi Hennig Society . 2014 . 30 . 5 . 485–507 . 10.1111/cla.12060 . 34794246 . 86204188 . free .
2. R. E. Crabill . 1969 . Tracheotaxy as a generic criterion in Himantariidae, with proposal of two new bothriogastrine genera (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha) . . 12 . 12 . 1–9 . 10.5479/si.00810282.12 . 10088/5109 .
3. Book: Bonato . Lucio . The Myriapoda. Volume 1 . Edgecombe . Gregory D. . Zapparoli . Marzio . Brill . 2011 . 978-90-04-18826-6 . Minelli . Alessandro . Leiden . 363–443 . Chilopoda – Taxonomic overview . 812207443.
4. Minelli . Alessandro . Bortoletto . Stefano . 1988-04-01 . Myriapod metamerism and arthropod segmentation . Biological Journal of the Linnean Society . 33 . 4 . 323–343 . 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1988.tb00448.x . 0024-4066.
5. Chamberlin . R.V. . 1912 . The Chilopoda of California. III. . Pomona College Journal of Entomology . 4 . 651–672 [672] . Biodiversity Heritage Library.
6. Web site: Bonato L. . Chagas Junior A. . Edgecombe G.D. . Lewis J.G.E. . Minelli A. . Pereira L.A. . Shelley R.M. . Stoev P. . Zapparoli M. . 2016 . Chomatobius bakeri (Chamberlin,1912) . 28 December 2023 . ChiloBase 2.0: A World Catalogue of Centipedes (Chilopoda) . Rosario Dioguardi and Giuseppe Cortese.
7. Chamberlin . Ralph V. . 1941-12-01 . New Genera and Species of North American Geophiloid Centipeds . Annals of the Entomological Society of America . 34 . 4 . 773–790 [790] . 10.1093/aesa/34.4.773 . 1938-2901.
8. Web site: Bonato L. . Chagas Junior A. . Edgecombe G.D. . Lewis J.G.E. . Minelli A. . Pereira L.A. . Shelley R.M. . Stoev P. . Zapparoli M. . 2016 . Garriscaphus oreines Chamberlin, 1941 . 24 February 2023 . ChiloBase 2.0: A World Catalogue of Centipedes (Chilopoda) . Rosario Dioguardi and Giuseppe Cortese.