Opisthocheiridae


Opisthocheiridae is a family of millipedes belonging to the order Chordeumatida. This family includes 40 species distributed among seven genera. These millipedes are found in western Europe and Morocco.

Description

Millipedes in this family range from 5 mm to 16 mm in length. The paranota are small humps and hardly developed sometimes. The posterior gonopods have from one to three segments. Adult millipedes in this family have 26 or 30 segments. This family includes the cave-dwelling species Opisthocheiron canayerensis, notable as one of only a few chordeumatidan species with only 26 segments in adults, four fewer segments than typically found in adults in this order.

Genera

This family includes seven genera:Brachytropisoma Silvestri, 1898Ceratosphys Ribaut, 1920Hispaniosoma Ribaut, 1913Marquetia Ribaut, 1905Marquetiella Jeekel, 1969Opisthocheiron Ribaut, 1913Sireuma Reboleira & Enghoff, 2014