In this week's New Scientist, an interesting interview with entomologist E.O.Wilson. The last section will be of interest to those who ever wondered what could possibly eat a polyxenid Bristly Millipede.
Read a scan of the text here.
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There are three new county atlases available for centipedes, millipedes and woodlice in Nottinghamshire. They are free to download at the following links.
http://www.eakringbirds.com/eakringbirds5/AtlasofNottinghamshireCentipedes.pdf
The first genome of a myriapod, the geophilomorph centipede Strigamia maritama, has been sequenced.
Arthropods are the most species-rich group of animals on Earth. Of the four main arthropod groups alive today, insects, crustaceans, chelicerates and myriapods, it is the latter (which includes centipedes and millipedes) for which the genome had not been sequenced.
Two (yes, TWO!) species of chourdeumatid millipede new to Britain, Ceratosphys amoena ssp. confusa (Ribaut, 1955) and Hylebainosoma nontronensis Mauriès & Kime, 1999, have been recently found outdoors in south Wales - ON THE SAME DAY!
Polydesmus testaceus is listed as being a species under threat from a new line of power cables due to be constructed by National Grid near Ipswich. The Company says that the new connection is needed to meet groing demand but the work will pass through Hintlesham Woods. The new lines will destroy part of the woods and fragment the remainder into separate parts, threatening the millipede and other species such as herb Paris and wild service trees. According to the National Grid no firm decision has yet been made.
From the East Anglian Daily Times
Bob Mesibov in Australia has found a population of a species of millipede, Prosopodesmus panporus, only previously known from hothouses including Kew Gardens. Bob says 'this unmistakable species was collected in rainforest on the Cape York Peninsula in tropical north Queensland. Because that rainforest area is remote and little-visited, and because 3 congeners are also found in tropical north Queensland, I think it likely that P. panporus is an Australian native.'