Arenophilus peregrinus Jones, 1989
Status:
- GB IUCN status: Data Deficient
- GB rarity status: Nationally Rare
ID Difficulty
Identification
Arenophilus peregrinus is a very small pallid species (to 12 mm), always with 45 leg pairs, and the slender last leg pair terminating in a distinct ‘tubercle’.
More information to allow accurate identification is given in the published identification keys by Tony Barber (2008 & 2009).
Distribution and Habitat
Arenophilus peregrinus was described new to science from the Isles of Scilly by Jones (1989). It was subsequently found on the Cornish mainland where it is now known from two sites (Gregory & Jones, 1999; Barber, 2008, pg.3).
More recently this species was discovered in Portugal (Gregory & Lewis, 2015), the third global record, suggesting that it may have a widespread Atlantic distribution (and may have been overlooked in western France and Spain).
This account is based on the 'Centipede Atlas' (Barber, 2022).
References
Jones, R.E. (1989) On a new species of centipede (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha) from the Isles of Scilly. Journal of Natural History, 23: 627-633.
Gregory, S.J. & Jones, R.E. (1999) Arenophilus peregrinus in Cornwall: A centipede new to mainland Britain. Bulletin of the British Myriapod Group, 15: 28-29.
Links
ChiloBase 2.0 - World Catalogue of Centipedes: https://chilobase.biologia.unipd.it/searches/result_species/3898