Pachymerium ferrugineum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Pachymerium ferrugineum | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Myriapoda |
| Class: | Chilopoda |
| Order: | Geophilomorpha |
| Family: | Geophilidae |
| Genus: | Pachymerium |
| Species: | P. ferrugineum |
| Binomial name | |
| Pachymerium ferrugineum (C. L. Koch, 1835) | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Pachymerium ferrugineum is a species of centipede in the family Geophilidae.
This species includes both a "short form" that can reach 50 mm in length with 41 to 49 pairs of legs and a "long form" that can reach 70 mm in length with 51 or more leg pairs.[2] The number of legs varies widely in this species, ranging from as few as 41 pairs in Northern Europe to as many as 69 pairs in Palestine.[3]
Various studies have been done on the intraspecific variation of Pachymerium ferrugineum to show the significance of the species geographical location to their number of leg-bearing segments. One study published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society showed that these species exhibit more leg-bearing segments in Southern geographical locations versus the Northern regions in North-west Europe.[4] A study conducted in the Aegean region has shown that the leg-bearing segments of Pachymerium ferrugineum in the Cyclades possibly vary due to insular characteristics of the island.[5]