General Information

COMMON NAMES: Short-flange Millipede, Hothouse Millipede, Greenhouse Millipede, Hothouse Millepede [alt.spelling], Hothouse Milliped [misspelling] TRADITIONAL NAMES: Veri Tinito (RR), Veri Tinitō (AK) GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Asia; EXOTIC EXOTIC circumglobal, including Indonesia - Easter, Hawai‘i COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; S.Group - widspread and very common; ?N.Grouup; Land, lowlands to uplands; leaf-litter KEY FEATURES: Flat millipede to 2cm. Body dark brown to black in adults. MIDBODY (segments 8-9) lateral flanges (=paranata) round to sharp posteriorly but do not extend behind segment margin. MALE gonopod on 7th segment, short and wide, reaching posterior legs of 6th. SIMILAR SPECIES: Long-flange Millipede (Asiomorpha coarctata) has points of midbody flanges projecting behind segment margin (vs. equal or less); and male gonopod long reaching 5th segment legs (vs short to 6th segment legs).

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++++	P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW

Oxidus gracilis (C. Koch, 1847)
SYNONYMS: Orthomorpha gracilis

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; ARTHROPODA; ATELOCERATA; DIPLOPODA; Chilognatha; Polydesmida; POLYDESMIDAE

GENERAL NOTE: A major urban pest in the USA, regularly invading houses and buildings, especially in hothouses and greenhouses, hence its popular names of Hothouse Millipede and Greenhouse Millipede. It is also the most common milliped throughout Hawaii. [Shelley, R.M. & Lehtinen, P.T (1998)] The common flat milliped of the Cook Islands and French Polynesia, from the lowlands to the highest mountains, in leaf litter from forest slopes to beside streams. Asiomorpha coarctata has not been found in the mountains of Rarotonga, and is less common on the lowlands.

Vouchers:
Cooks: mention in BPBM Bull.113 (1935) p.133.

References:
Special Reference: Shelley, R.M. & Lehtinen, P.T (1998) Introduced millipeds of the family Paradoxosomatidae on Pacific Islands (Diplopoda: Polydesmida), Arthropoda Selecta 7(2):81-94; Shelley, R.M. & Bauer, S.B. (1997) The Milliped Family Paradoxosomatidae in the Hawaiian Islands (Diplopoda: Polydesmida), Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey fro 1997 Part 2: Notes, p.43-53

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM04a, zup05b, zD02

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