Orphnaeus Explained

Orphnaeus is a genus of centipedes in the family Oryidae. This genus was described by Danish entomologist Frederik Vilhelm August Meinert in 1870.^[1] Centipedes in this genus are found in tropical regions.

Description

Centipedes in this genus have short ultimate legs, range from 3 cm to 13 cm in length, and have 53 to 131 pairs of legs.^[2] The minimum number of legs in this genus (53 pairs) appears in the species Orphnaeus bevilabiatus; the maximum number (131 pairs) appears in the species O. madegassus.^[3]

Species

There are 14 valid species:^[1]

• Orphnaeus atopus (Chamberlin, 1920)
• Orphnaeus bohlsi Attems, 1903
• Orphnaeus brasilianus (Humbert & Saussure, 1870)
• Orphnaeus brevilabiatus (Newport, 1845)
• Orphnaeus fangaroka Saussure & Zehntner L., 1902
• Orphnaeus guillemini (Gervais, 1847)
• Orphnaeus heteropodus Lawrence, 1963
• Orphnaeus maculatus Lawrence, 1960
• Orphnaeus madegassus Lawrence, 1960
• Orphnaeus meruinus Attems, 1909
• Orphnaeus multipes Manfredi, 1939
• Orphnaeus polypodus Silvestri, 1895
• Orphnaeus porosus Verhoeff K. W., 1937
• Orphnaeus validus Lawrence, 1953

Notes and References

1. 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 . ChiloBase 2.0 . A World Catalogue of Centipedes (Chilopoda) . Rosario Dioguardi and Giuseppe Cortese, University of Padua. 4 March 2023.
2. 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.
3. Lawrence . R.F. . 1960 . Myriapodes Chilopodes . Faune de Madagascar . French . 12 . 1-123 [28, 33] . Biodiversity Heritage Library.