Nopoiulus kochii (Gervais, 1847)

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Synonyms

Nopoiulus armatus Némec, 1895

Status:

  • GB IUCN status: Least Concern
  • GB rarity status: Nationally Scarce

ID Difficulty

4

Identification

Blaniulid millipedes are conspicuously long and slender. British specimens have been referred to this species since at least 1911 but there has been a great deal of confusion surrounding the nomenclature of Nopoiulus kochii and related species. Where it has been possible for modern workers to re-examine these early specimens they have all proved to belong to other taxa, namely Blaniulus guttulatus, Choneuilus palmatus and Proteroiulus fuscus (Blower, 1985). Despite this Blower (1985) did provide a description of the species. Further information on identification was provided by Hopkin & Blower (1987) following collection of the first British specimen.

N. kochii differs in subtle morphological characters from the other 'eyed' species. Identification should be undertaken by examination of male gonopods where possible.

James Harding-Morris
James Harding-Morris
James Harding-Morris

Distribution

N. kochii was not collected in Britain until 1986 (Hopkin & Blower, 1987) but it has since been collected from a small number of locations scattered across Britain and Ireland. 

It may have originally been a central European species but now is recorded widely across the continent and has been introduced to New Zealand, North and South America (Kime, 1999). 

Habitat

There is relatively little information on the habitat of this species but the analysis of the recording scheme data suggests that it is highly synanthropic showing strong associations with buildings and with waste ground. The millipede is strongly synanthropic in continental Europe but it has been collected from caves (Kime, 2004) and from grassland (Pedroli-Christen, 1993). 

Phenology

Adults have been found from April to June and from October to January. They probably occur throughout the year. The life history of this species has not been studied in detail but it is likely to be similar to that of Proteroiulus fuscus.

This species account is based on Lee (2006).

Links

MilliBase - Global catalogue of Millipedes: https://millibase.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=945130

BRC code

63

idBmigTaxa

Mil_212