''Gosodesmus'' is a genus of

platydesmida Platydesmida (Greek language, Greek for ''platy'' "flat" and ''desmos'' "bond") is an order (biology), order of millipedes containing two families and over 60 species. Some species practice paternal care, in which males guard the eggs. Descrip ...

n millipede, described by Ralph V. Chamberlin in 1922, that is widely distributed in the U.S. state of California. It is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

, being represented by the single species, ''Gosodesmus claremontus, ''commonly known as the pink feather boa millipede. Individuals vary in color from bright pink to coral, and may possess a black or purple dorsal stripe. Body length ranges from , with up to 81 body segments. ''Gosodesmus claremontus'' occurs on the

Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States; ; ) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Althoug ...

as well as the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

, and is often found within rotted wood, especially oaks. In 2020, chemist Dr. Tappey Jones at

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

and colleagues, discovered a novel natural product and alkaloid in the chemical defense secretion of ''G. claremontus'': (1), 7-(4-methylpent-3-en-1-yl)-1,2,3,5,8,8a-hexahydroindolizine, known as gosodesmine.

References

Millipedes of North America Endemic fauna of California Taxa described in 1922 Monotypic myriapod genera Platydesmida {{Millipede-stub