Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 8, 2026

Macrosternodesmidae

Macrosternodesmidae is a family of flat-backed millipedes in the order Polydesmida. Some authorities deem Macrosternodesmidae to be a junior synonym of Trichopolydesmidae. Others accept Macrosternodesmidae as a valid family but disagree regarding the genera included in this family.

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Jun 8, 2026
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Macrosternodesmidae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Myriapoda
Class: Diplopoda
Order: Polydesmida
Suborder: Polydesmidea
Family: Macrosternodesmidae
Brolemann, 1916

Macrosternodesmidae is a family of flat-backed millipedes in the order Polydesmida.1234567 Some authorities deem Macrosternodesmidae to be a junior synonym of Trichopolydesmidae.89 Others accept Macrosternodesmidae as a valid family but disagree regarding the genera included in this family.123456

Taxonomy

In 1916, the French myriapodologist Henry W. Brölemann proposed Macrosternodesmini as a tribe to include the monotypic European genus Macrosternodesmus,10 which he had described earlier in 1908.11 In 1980, the American biologist Richard L. Hoffman elevated this tribe name to family status as Macrosternodesmidae.1213 In 2013, however, the Russian zoologist Sergei I. Golovatch deemed Macrosternodesmidae to be a junior synonym of Trichopolydesmidae.8 In 2017, the biologists William A. Shear and James M. Reddell rejected this proposed synonymy and retained Macrosternodesmidae as a valid family mostly endemic to North America but also including Macrosternodesmus and three other monotypic European genera.14

Authorities often consider Nearctodesmidae to be a junior synonym of Macrosternodesmidae.158 In 2017, Shear and Reddell placed the genera previously assigned to the family Nearctodesmidae in a new subfamily Nearctodesminae in the family Macrosternodesmidae.14 Others have adopted this proposed revision.1617 In 2019, Shear, Rowland M. Shelley, and David B. Steinmann proposed two new genera (Packardesmus and Coloradesmus) and placed them in the other subfamily (Macrosternodesminae) in this family.1812 Some authorities accept Macrosternodesmidae as a valid family but nevertheless place Macrosternodesmus, Packardesmus, and Coloradesmus in the family Trichopolydesmidae instead.119

Description

As described by Shear and Reddell based on North American species, the millipedes in this family feature a small collum shaped like a transverse oval and well developed paranota. Species in this family range from white to brown or red.14 Whereas millipedes in the subfamily Macrosternodesmidae are small (2.5 mm to 12 mm in length) and often lack pigment,12 those in the subfamily Neactodesminae are much larger (10 mm to 35 mm in length) and often brown, orange, pink, or red.18 Whereas Macrosternodesmines feature short antennae with bulbous distal segments, Nearctodesmines feature long antennae with cylindrical distal segments.12 The tergites feature setae that are often arranged on rows of tubercles in Macrosternodesmines, but these surfaces are entirely smooth and lack setae in Nearctodesmines.1412

Genera

The revisions proposed by Shear, Reddell, Shelley, and Steinmann would include at least the following genera in the following two subfamilies in this family:141812

Subfamily Macrosternodesminae Brölemann, 1916
  • Chaetaspis Bollman, 1887
  • Coloradesmus Shear & Steinmann, 2019
  • Macrosternodesmus Brölemann, 1908
  • Nevadesmus Shear, 2009
  • Ophiodesmus Cook, 1895
  • Packardesmus Shear & Shelley, 2019
  • Pratherodesmus Shear, 2009
  • Sequoiadesmus Shear & Shelley, 2008
  • Speodesmus Loomis, 1939
  • Speorthus Chamberlin, 1952
  • Tidesmus Chamberlin, 1943
Subfamily Nearctodesminae Chamberlin & Hoffman, 1950
  • Bistolodesmus Shelley, 1994
  • Ergodesmus Chamberlin, 1949
  • Kepolydesmus Chamberlin, 1910
  • Leonardesmus Shelley & Shear, 2006
  • Nearctodesmus Silvestri, 1910
References

References

  1. Sierwald, P.; Decker, P.; Spelda, J. "MilliBase - Macrosternodesmidae Brölemann, 1916". www.millibase.org. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  2. "Macrosternodesmidae Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  3. "Macrosternodesmidae". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
  4. "Macrosternodesmidae articles - Encyclopedia of Life". www.eol.org. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  5. "Macrosternodesmidae Family Information". BugGuide.net. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  6. "Macrosternodesmidae Brölemann, 1916 | COL". www.catalogueoflife.org. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  7. Shelley, R.M. "The myriapods, the world's leggiest animals". Archived from the original on 2018-07-11. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  8. Golovatch, Sergei (2013-10-04). "A reclassification of the millipede superfamily Trichopolydesmoidea, with descriptions of two new species from the Aegean region (Diplopoda, Polydesmida)". ZooKeys (340): 63–78 [75]. Bibcode:2013ZooK..340...63G. doi:10.3897/zookeys.340.6295. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 3800799. PMID 24146592.
  9. Enghoff, Henrik; Golovatch, Sergei; Short, Megan; Stoev, Pavel; Wesener, Thomas (2015-01-01), "Diplopoda — taxonomic overview", Treatise on Zoology - Anatomy, Taxonomy, Biology. The Myriapoda, Volume 2, Brill, pp. 363–453, doi:10.1163/9789004188273_017, ISBN 978-90-04-18827-3, retrieved 2024-06-05{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  10. Brölemann, Henry Wilfred (1916). "Essai de classification des Polydesmiens (Myriapodes)". Annales de la Société entomologique de France (in French). 84 (4): 523–608 [585]. doi:10.1080/21686351.1915.12279415.
  11. Brölemann, H.-W. (1908). "Description d'un genre nouveau et d'une espece nouvelle de Myriapodes de France". Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France (in French). 1908: 94–96. Bibcode:1908AnSEF1908...94.. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.5606. ISSN 0037-928X.
  12. Shear, William A.; Steinmann, David B. (2019-08-19). "Cave millipedes of the United States. XV. Coloradesmus gen. nov. (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Macrosternodesmidae), and four new species from caves in Colorado, USA". Subterranean Biology. 32: 15–32 [17–19]. doi:10.3897/subtbiol.32.38161. ISSN 1314-2615.
  13. Shelley, Rowland M. (2002). "A revised, annotated, family-level classification of the Diplopoda" (PDF). Arthropoda Selecta. 11 (3): 187–207 [200].
  14. Shear, William A.; Reddell, James M. (2017-01-01). "Cave millipedes of the United States. XIV. Revalidation of the genus Speorthus Chamberlin, 1952 (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Macrosternodesmidae), with a description of a new species from Texas and remarks on the families Polydesmidae and Macrosternodesmidae in North America". Insecta Mundi. 0529: 1–13 [5–6, 8].
  15. 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. pp. 159–164 [164]. ISBN 978-1-86977-850-7.
  16. Sierwald, P.; Decker, P.; Spelda, J. "MilliBase - Nearctodesminae Chamberlin & Hoffman, 1950". www.millibase.org. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  17. "Nearctodesminae Chamberlin & Hoffman, 1950 | COL". www.catalogueoflife.org. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  18. Shear, William A.; Shelley, Rowland M. (2019-02-20). "Solved after 140 years: the identity of the millipede Polydesmus cavicola Packard, 1877, and proposal of Packardesmus n. gen. (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Macrosternodesmidae)". Zootaxa. 4559 (2): 384–390 [384–386]. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4559.2.11. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 30791024.
  19. Sierwald, P.; Decker, P.; Spelda, J. "MilliBase - Trichopolydesmidae Verhoeff, 1910". www.millibase.org. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
Further reading

Further reading

  • Lee, Paul; Harding, P. (2006). Atlas of the millipedes (Diplopoda) of Britain and Ireland. Vol. 59. Pensoft.
  • Hoffman, Richard L. (1999). Checklist of the millipeds of North and Middle America. Virginia Museum of Natural History.
  • Foddai, Donatella; Dallai, Romano (1995). Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Pauropoda, Symphyla. Calderini.
  • Capinera, John L., ed. (2008). Encyclopedia of Entomology. Springer. ISBN 978-1402062421.