''Orthomorpha'' is a genus of

millipede Millipedes (originating from the Latin , "thousand", and , "foot") are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derive ...

s in the family

Paradoxosomatidae Paradoxosomatidae, the only family in the suborder Paradoxosomatidea (also known as Strongylosomatidea), is a family (biology), family of flat-backed millipedes in the order Polydesmida. Containing nearly 200 genera and 975 species , it is one o ...

containing approximately 50 species distributed in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Description

Species of ''Orthomorpha'' possess 20 body segments and range from 15–50 mm long as adults. They range from 1.1–3.1 mm in body width, with prominent paranota (lateral keels) extending the width to 1.5–6.7 mm. Base coloration varies from brown to black, with brightly colored paranota and markings in various shades of yellow, orange, and brown, which becomes fainter in alcohol-preserved specimens. Some species have prominent bumps or "tubercles" on their dorsal metatergal segments.

Distribution

''Orthomorpha'' species range from

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

in the west, through the entire

Indochinese Peninsula Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

, to

Lombok Lombok, is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is rou ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The species '' O. coarctata'', (also known as '' Asiomorpha coarctata'') has been widely introduced by humans in tropics around the world.Hoffman, R. (1999). Checklist of the millipeds of North and Middle America. Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publications 8, 1–553.

Species

The genus was revised by Likhitrakarn, Golovatch & Panha in 2011, who described several new species and assigned two to the new genus ''Orthomorphoides'', yielding a total of 51 named species of ''Orthomorpha''. Three more species from

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

were described in 2014.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6442719 Polydesmida Millipedes of Asia Taxa named by Charles Harvey Bollman Millipede genera