| Spirobolida | |
|---|---|
|  | |
| Narceus americanus | |
| Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota | 
| Kingdom: | Animalia | 
| Phylum: | Arthropoda | 
| Subphylum: | Myriapoda | 
| Class: | Diplopoda | 
| Superorder: | Juliformia | 
| Order: | Spirobolida Bollman, 1893 | 
| Families | |
| 12: See text | |
| Synonyms | |
| Anocheta Cook, 1895 Haplogonophora Brolemann, 1931 | |
Spirobolida is an order of "round-backed" millipedes containing approximately 500 species in 12 families.[1] Its members are distinguished by the presence of a "pronounced suture that runs "vertically down the front of the head".[2] Most of the species live in the tropics, and many are brightly coloured.[2] Mature males have two pairs of modified legs, the gonopods, consisting of the 8th and 9th leg pair: the posterior gonopods are used in sperm-transfer while the anterior gonopods are fused into a single plate-like structure.[3]

Front and rear views of the anterior (A, B) and posterior left (C, D) gonopods of a spirobolidan
The families are divided into two suborders:[1]
Suborder Spirobolidea
- Allopocockiidae
- Atopetholidae
- Floridobolidae
- Hoffmanobolidae
- Messicobolidae
- Pseudospirobolellidae
- Rhinocricidae
- Spirobolellidae
- Spirobolidae
- Typhlobolellidae
Suborder Trigoniulidea
Select species
- Narceus americanus, a commonly seen species in eastern North America
- Crurifarcimen vagans, the "Wandering Leg Sausage"
- Anadenobolus monilicornis, the Yellow-banded Millipede
- Eucarlia, a genus of threatened Indo-Pacific millipedes
References
- 1 2 Shear, W. (2011). "Class Diplopoda de Blainville in Gervais, 1844. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3148: 159โ164.
- 1 2 Stephen P. Hopkin & Helen J. Read (1992). "Taxonomy, evolution, and zoogeography". The Biology of millipedes. Oxford University Press. pp. 8โ23. ISBN 978-0-19-857699-0.
- โ "Putative apomorphies of millipede clades" (PDF). Milli-PEET: Millipede Systematics. The Field Museum, Chicago, IL. 26 September 2006.
External links
 Media related to Spirobolida at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Spirobolida at Wikimedia Commons
 Data related to Spirobolida at Wikispecies Data related to Spirobolida at Wikispecies
- "Spirobolida" at the Encyclopedia of Life
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