Xyloiuloidea

Xyloiuloidea

Xyloiuloidea

Extinct superfamily of millipedes


Xyloiuloidea is an extinct superfamily of millipedes that existed from the Lower Devonian through the Upper Pennsylvanian period in Europe and North America.

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Families ...

Description

Xyloiuloids are more or less cylindrical, with sternites, pleurites, and tergites of each body segment fused into a complete ring. Adults possess 40 to 50 body rings. The legs are no longer than half the height of the body. The body surface is marked by small parallel grooves (striations), which vary in surface coverage between xyloiuloid families.[1]

Taxonomy

Xyloiuloidea comprises four families:

The taxonomic history of Xyloiuloidea begins with Orator F. Cook designating the family Xyloiulidae in 1895. In 1969, Richard L. Hoffman established the families Nyraniidae and Plagiascetidae, and placed all three extinct families in the extant (still-living) order Spirobolida, as suborder "Xyloiulidea".[2] In 2006, two new species were described and placed in the new family Gaspestriidae, and group was reassigned as a superfamily of uncertain status (incertae sedis) within the juliform millipedes, a group that includes the cylindrical, fused-bodied orders Spirobolida, Spirostreptida, and Julida.[1]


References

  1. Wilson, Heather M. (2006). "Juliformian millipedes from the lower Devonian of Euramerica: implications for the timing of millipede cladogenesis in the Paleozoic". Journal of Paleontology. 80 (4): 638–649. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2006)80[638:JMFTLD]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 85823417.
  2. Hoffman, Richard L., 1969. Myriapoda, exclusive of Insecta. R572–R606. In: Moore, R.C. (Ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part R, Vol. 2. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, KS.



Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Xyloiuloidea, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.