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Modified legs (clasping appendages?) of Carboniferous euphoberiid millipeds (Diplopoda: Euphoberiida)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Joseph T. Hannibal
Joseph T. Hannibal*
Affiliation:
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-1767
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Abstract

Six specimens belonging to several euphoberiid diplopod species have a pair of modified legs located along the midbody. These appendages are robust, much stouter than normal walking legs, and are attached to a sternite that is longer than those preceding and following. Euphoberiid modified legs differ in position from those of modern diplopods, being located neither near the anterior end as are gonopods nor at the anterior or posterior ends, as are clasping appendages of various modern forms. The presence of such appendages supports ordinal status for the euphoberiids.

The prominent spines of euphoberiids would have precluded intertwining types of mating behavior observed in many types of elongate modern diplopods. Judged by their robust nature and location, the modified legs may have been clasping appendages used during the mating process. “Intromittent organs” described on various taxa of fossil Diplopoda by the early paleomyriapodologists Scudder and Fritsch are suspect.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 69 , Issue 5 , September 1995 , pp. 932 - 938
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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