''Apheloria'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
flat-backed millipedes in the family
Xystodesmidae, occurring in the central and southeastern United States, and ranging as far north as southern Quebec, Canada.
[Hoffman, Richard L. 1999. Checklist of the millipeds of North and Middle America. Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publications 8, pp. 293-296][Marek, Paul; Tanabe, Tsutomu; Sierwald, Petra (2014]
''A Species Catalog of the Millipede Family Xystodesmidae (Diplopoda: Polydesmida)''.
Special Publication 17. Virginia Museum of Natural History. pp. 7-9 They are
aposematically colored in black and contrasting reds and yellows, and some species in the Appalachian Mountains resemble species of ''
Brachoria'' where they co-occur, a phenomenon known as
Müllerian mimicry
Müllerian mimicry is a natural phenomenon in which two or more well-defended species, often foul-tasting and sharing common predators, have come to mimicry, mimic each other's honest signal, honest aposematism, warning signals, to their mutuali ...
.
Species
These species belong to the genus ''Apheloria'':
[
* '' Apheloria luminosa'' Kenyon, 1893
* '' Apheloria montana'' (Bollman, 1887)
* '' Apheloria montezumae'' (Attems, 1899)
* '' Apheloria polychroma'' Marek, Means & Hennen, 2018
* '' Apheloria tigana'' Chamberlin, 1939
* '' Apheloria virginiensis'' (Drury, 1770)
* '' Apheloria whiteheadi'' (Shelley, 1986)
Apheloria montana - inat 197904282.jpg, ''Apheloria montana'', North Carolina
Apheloria polychroma - inat 278228104.jpg, ''Apheloria polychroma'', Tennessee
Apheloria tigana - inat 367707558.jpg, ''Apheloria tigana'', Indiana
]
References
Polydesmida
Millipedes of North America
Millipede genera
{{Millipede-stub