Geophilomorpha
Geophilomorpha
Order of centipedes
The Geophilomorpha, commonly known as soil centipedes,[1] are epimorphic[2] and bear upwards of 27 leg-bearing segments. They are eyeless and blind, and bear spiracles on all leg-bearing segments—in contrast to other groups, which usually bear them only on their 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th, 12th, and 14th segments—a "mid-body break", accompanied by a change in tagmatic shape, occurring roughly at the interchange from odd to even segments. This group is the most diverse centipede order, with 230 genera.[3] Centipedes in this order each have an odd number of leg-bearing segments ranging from 27 (in the genus Schendylops)[4] to 191 (in the species Gonibregmatus plurimipes).[2] They also have 14–segmented antennae. This order is a monophyletic group including two suborders: the monophyletic Placodesmata, which contains Mecistocephalidae, and Adesmata, which includes the superfamilies Himantarioidea (Oryidae, Himantariidae, and Schendylidae, including Ballophilidae) and Geophiloidea (Zelanophilidae, Gonibregmatidae including Eriphantidae and Neogeophilidae, and Geophilidae including Aphilodontidae, Dignathodontidae, Linotaeniidae, Chilenophilinae,[5] and Macronicophilidae).[6] Segment number is usually fixed by species in the family Mecistocephalidae, unlike the case in other families in this order, in which the segment number usually varies within each species.[7] The name "Geophilomorpha" is from Ancient Greek roots meaning "formed to love the earth."[8]
