Kashmireumatidae Explained

Kashmireumatidae is a small family of millipedes belonging to the order Chordeumatida.^[1] These millipedes range from 5mm to 14mm in length and are found in East Asia. Adult millipedes in this family have only 26 or 28 segments (counting the collum as the first segment and the telson as the last) rather than the 30 segments usually found in this order.^[2] In the species Vieteuma topali, adults have 26 segments, whereas in all other species in this family, adults have 28 segments.^[3]

In some species (the genus Kashmireuma and the species V. longi), the second leg pair in the adult female is vestigial, but in all other species in this family (the genus Lipseuma and the species V. topali and V. hubeiensis), the adult female has a normal leg pair instead.^[4] Thus, in the genus Lipseuma, the adult female has 46 pairs of walking legs, as one would normally expect in an adult female chordeumatidan with 28 segments (two fewer segments than typically found in this order). In the genus Kashmireuma, however, adult females have the same 28 segments but only 45 pairs of walking legs, with a "platosternite" where a second pair of normal legs would otherwise be.^[5]

Genera:

• Kashmireuma Mauriès, 1982
• Lipseuma Golovatch, Geoffroy & Mauries, 2006
• Vieteuma Golovatch, 1984

Notes and References

1. Web site: Kashmireumatidae . www.gbif.org . 6 June 2021 . en.
2. Enghoff . Henrik . Golovatch . Sergei . Short . Megan . Stoev . Pavel . Wesener . Thomas . 2015-01-01 . Diplopoda — taxonomic overview . Treatise on Zoology - Anatomy, Taxonomy, Biology. The Myriapoda, Volume 2 . en . 363–453 . 10.1163/9789004188273_017. 9789004188273 .
3. Shear . William A. . 2002 . Five New Chordeumatidan Millipeds from China: New Species of Vieteuma (Kashmirieumatidae) and Nepalella (Megalotylidae) . Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences . 53 . 6 . 63–72 . Biodiversity Heritage Library.
4. Golovatch . Sergei I. . Geoffroy . Jean-Jacques . Mauries . Jean-Paul . 2006 . Four new Chordeumatida (Diplopoda) from caves in China . Zoosystema . en . 28 . 1 . 75–92.
5. Mauriès . Jean-Paul . 1988 . Myriapodes du Népal. II. Diplopodes Craspedosomides nouveaux de l'Himalaya et de la région indo-malaise (Craspedosomidea et Chordeumidea) . Revue suisse de zoologie . French . 95 . 3–49 . 10.5962/bhl.part.79638 . 0035-418X . Biodiversity Heritage Library . free.