Spirobolida

Not to be confused with Spirostreptida.

Spirobolida
File:NarceusAmericanusMillipede.jpg
Narceus americanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Myriapoda
Class:	Diplopoda
Subclass:	Chilognatha
Infraclass:	Helminthomorpha
Superorder:	Juliformia
Order:	Spirobolida Bollman, 1893
Families
12: See text
Synonyms
Anocheta Cook, 1895 Haplogonophora Brolemann, 1931

Spirobolida is an order of "round-backed" millipedes containing approximately 500 species in 12 families. Its members are distinguished by the presence of a "pronounced suture that runs "vertically down the front of the head". Most of the species live in the tropics, and many are brightly coloured. Mature males have two pairs of modified legs, the gonopods, consisting of the 8th and 9th leg pair: the posterior gonopods are used in sperm-transfer while the anterior gonopods are fused into a single plate-like structure.

File:Aphistogoniulus jeekeli holotype gonopods 02.png

Front and rear views of the anterior (A, B) and posterior left (C, D) gonopods of a spriobolidan

The families are divided into two suborders:

Suborder Spirobolidea

• Allopocockiidae
• Atopetholidae
• Floridobolidae
• Hoffmanobolidae
• Messicobolidae
• Pseudospirobolellidae
• Rhinocricidae
• Spirobolellidae
• Spirobolidae
• Typhlobolellidae

Suborder Trigoniulidea

• Pachybolidae
• Trigoniulidae

Select species

• Narceus americanus, a commonly seen species in eastern North America
• Crurifarcimen vagans, the "Wandering Leg Sausage"
• Anadenobolus monilicornis, the Yellow-banded Millipede
• Eucarlia, a genus of threatened Indo-Pacific millipedes

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Spirobolida at Wikispecies
• Spirobolida at the Encyclopedia of Life