''Geophilus oligopus'' is a species of soil centipede in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Geophilidae Geophilidae is a family of soil centipedes in the superfamily Geophiloidea and the order Geophilomorpha. In 2014, a phylogenetic analysis based on morphological and molecular data found this family to be polyphyletic. To avoid this polyphyly, ...

. This

centipede Centipedes (from Neo-Latin , "hundred", and Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', "lip", and Neo-Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, ...

is found in several European countries, including

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovenia, and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Although this centipede has been described as having an Alpine- Dinaric distribution, this species has also been found in the

Carpathian The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at ...

mountains and may be more widespread than previously thought.

Discovery and taxonomy

This species was first described by the Austrian myriapodologist

Carl Attems Carl August Graf Attems-Petzenstein (13 October 1868 in Graz, Austria – 19 April 1952 in Vienna) was an Austrian myriapoda, myriapodologist and invertebrate zoology, invertebrate zoologist. He published 138 scientific papers, most of them d ...

in 1895 under the name ''Orinomus oligopus''. The original description of this species is based on specimens from Mount

Hochschwab The Hochschwab in the Upper Styria is a mountain, , and the highest summit in the eponymous mountain range. Location The summit of the Hochschwab is a flat, rock and grass-covered dome, that may easily be climbed from the Schiestlhaus () to ...

in the Obersteiermark region of Austria. The type specimens were two adults and a juvenile, parts of which are deposited in the form of two slides in the Natural History Museum in Vienna. Although Attems created the genus ''Orinomus'' in 1895 to contain the newly discovered species, he later deemed ''Orinomus'' to be a

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of ''

Geophilus ''Geophilus '' is a large, heterogeneous genus of soil centipedes in the family Geophilidae largely considered to be synonymous with '' Brachygeophilus''. The generic name first appeared in Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopaedia in 1814 as '' Geoph ...

''. In 1927, Attems described ''Geophilus pauropus'' as a new species found in the

Velebit Velebit (; ; ) is the largest, though not the highest, mountain range in Croatia. The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior. Velebit begins in the northwest near ...

mountains of Croatia. In 1996, however, the Austrian

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Erhard Christian deemed ''G. pauropus'' to be a junior synonym of ''G. oligopus'', and authorities now consider these centipedes to be the same species. Similarly, in 1928, the German

Karl W. Verhoeff described ''Geophilus noricus'' as a new species found in Austria (on

Schmittenhöhe The Schmittenhöhe is a mountain, high, on the eastern edge of the Kitzbühel Alps. It is the local mountain of the district capital of Zell am See, from where a Aerial lift, cable car was built in 1927 by Adolf Bleichert & Co. that runs to the s ...

mountain and in St. Gilgen, both in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

state, and in

Steinach am Brenner Steinach am Brenner is a market town in the district of Innsbruck-Land in the Austrian state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol located south of Innsbruck in the Wipptal at the Sill River. Geography Steinach am Brenner is located in Wipptal, along the Sill R ...

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

state). In 1988, however, the Italian

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

Alessandro Minelli deemed ''G. noricus'' to be a junior synonym of ''G. oligopus'', and authorities now consider these centipedes to be the same species.

Description

This centipede ranges from 8 mm to 18 mm in length and is a pale yellow, but the head and

forcipules Forcipules are the modified, pincer-like, front legs of centipedes that are used to inject venom into prey. They are the only known examples of front legs acting as venom injectors. Nomenclature Forcipules go by a variety of names in both sci ...

are darker. Both the male and the female of this species can have either 37 or 39 pairs of legs. This species exhibits a set of traits that distinguish this species from similar species in the same genus. For example, the second

maxillae In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxillar ...

in this species each end in a stout

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projectio ...

with one or two apical tips. Furthermore, this species features

sternal The sternum (: sternums or sterna) or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major blood ve ...

pores that are limited to the anterior part of the trunk. The

sternites The sternum (: sterna) is the ventral portion of a segment of an arthropod thorax or abdomen. In insects, the sterna are usually single, large sclerites, and external. However, they can sometimes be divided in two or more, in which case the sub ...

in this species also feature a carpophagus structure, in which a peg projecting from the posterior margin of one sternite is associated with a pit or socket in the anterior margin of the next sternite. A

cladistic Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is ...

analysis based on the

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

of ten European species of ''Geophilus'' places ''G. oligopus'' in a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

with '' G. persephones'' in a

phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In ...

. This clade forms a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

for the species '' G. insculptus'', which emerges as the next closest relative in this analysis. These three species share many traits, including second maxillae that end in tubercles, carpophagus structures on the anterior sternites, and long

setae In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae ...

on the head, trunk, and legs. The species ''G. oligopus'' may be distinguished from both of these close relatives, however, based on its pore fields, which are limited to its anterior sternites and absent from the first sternite. In the other two species, these pores appear on all sternites but the last. Moreover, ''G. persephones'' has fewer legs (only 29 pairs in the only specimen) than ''G. oligopus'', whereas ''G. insculptus'' has more (43 to 53 pairs). The species ''G. insculptus'' is also larger (25 mm to 30 mm in length) and has two articles on the first maxillae where ''G. oligopus'' has only one article. Furthermore, the internal margin of the ultimate article of the

forcipule Forcipules are the modified, pincer-like, front legs of centipedes that are used to inject venom into prey. They are the only known examples of front legs acting as venom injectors. Nomenclature Forcipules go by a variety of names in both sci ...

is serrate in ''G. oligopus'' but not in ''G. persephones''.

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q6507184 oligopus Myriapods of Europe Taxa named by Carl Attems Animals described in 1895