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Photo#1167836
Millipede

Millipede
Gresham, Multnomah County, Oregon, USA
November 22, 2015
Size: about 8 mm
Hello, Bugguide

I found this millipede and another much like it in a red alder forest bordering a douglas fir and big-leaf maple forest. The understory consists of western sword-fern and oregon grape. It was sharing the underside of a rotten log with a suspected platydesmid millipede. The millipede's first instinct was to cover itself (or at least its head). Another individual I found that looked very similar was curled up in a ball. My guess is that it is a juvenile polydesmid millipede of some sort.

Thanks for your help!
Phil

Images of this individual: tag all
Millipede Millipede Millipede Millipede

Moved
Moved from Millipedes.

This is a Striariid, nice fin
This is a Striariid, nice find!

 
Striariid
Sweet! This makes the fourth millipede order for this location! Do you think this belongs to the genus that is already on Bugguide, or something else?

 
It's probably Striaria, but w
It's probably Striaria, but we can't say for sure from the photos.

 
Striaria nazinta
I just found out that this particular species was first discovered in Portland, Oregon (Multnomah County). Range wise, it looks like a match. In Shear and Krejca's paper (http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/zt01532p039.pdf) they say that the holotype of this species was lost, and that Shear examined several specimens of Striariid from the Portland area and found them to be different from the description of S. nazinta. So far as I can tell, Shear hasn't gone ahead to identify these new Portland striariids.

 
One More Question
If I were to collect a specimen of this species (I'm guessing just use ethyl alcohol), what features should I look for (or post to Bugguide) to identify it to genus or species? Also, if you know of any good technical literature for distinguishing species of Striariidae, I have a microscope and some micro-dissection tools that I can use to get a better idea of its taxonomy.

Thanks,
Phil

 
To identify it past family, y
To identify it past family, you'll need a male specimen and you'll have to dissect out the gonopods and compare to illustrations from the literature for that family. Unfortunately, there hasn't been a published revision of the Striariidae, so there's still a lot of work to do on the family.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Not sure.
Use a black light and see if it fluoresces.

 
Flourescent millipedes
Interesting! Do you know if there are any fluorescent millipedes in my area?

 
I just recently found out abo
I just recently found out about them myself. Google fluorescent millipedes for several good photos.

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