Tubaphe
Genus of millipedes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tubaphe is a genus of millipede in the family Xystodesmidae with a single described species, Tubaphe levii.[2] The genus was erected by Nell B. Causey in 1954.[3]
| Tubaphe | |
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| Drawings of Tubaphe levii including the gonopods by Rowland Shelley | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Myriapoda |
| Class: | Diplopoda |
| Order: | Polydesmida |
| Family: | Xystodesmidae |
| Genus: | Tubaphe Causey, 1954 |
| Species: | T. levii |
| Binomial name | |
| Tubaphe levii Causey, 1954 | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Species synonymy
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Tubaphe was described as having a simple gonopod with a two-pronged telopodite and lacking lacking paranota on segments six, eight, eleven, and fourteen.[3] Shelley notes that T. levii has a nearly cylindrical body and is often lacking or nearly lacking paranota beyond the first four segments[4]
Tubaphe levii was first described by N. B. Causey based on samples collected by Dr Herbert W Levi and Lorna R. Levi from the Graves Creek Campground on the Olympic Peninsula.[3] The species was placed in a unique genus based in large part on the reduced paranota of all segments after the fourth.[3] This feature distinguishes T. levii from all other American Xystodesmids.[4]
The species is found on the northern parts of the Olympic peninsula (where it was first described from) as well as on the southern portions of Vancouver Island BC.[4] The Vancouver island population was first described as Metaxycheir pacifica by Rowland M. Shelley in 1990[5] and later synonymized with T. levii by Dr Shelley in 1993.[6]
