Cylindrodesmus hirsutus Pocock, 1889
Synonyms
Cylindrodesmus laniger Schubart, 1945
Status:
GB IUCN status: Not applicable (non-native)
ID Difficulty
Identification
A small white or pale brown millipede (to 5mm in length), with feebly developed paranota (side bumps) and with a distinctly hairy body. It has been recorded from inside heated glasshouses.
A description of this species, with figures, is given by Read (2008).
Distribution and Habitat
Henrik Enghoff recalls seeing specimens of this parthenogenetic species from Britain around 1985 but the record was never published (Golovatch et al., 2000). The first confirmed record is of individuals found in the Palm House at Kew in 2002. However, the identity of these animals was not recognised until further specimens were collected from the same location two years later. Further specimens were found at Kew in 2005 and a population was discovered in a tropical butterfly house in South Yorkshire later the same year (Lee, 2005, pg.2). Subsequently it has been recorded from a few additional tropical glasshouses, including Wisley Gardens and Eden Project.
It is a pantropical animal and introduced populations have been found in hothouses in Berlin, Paris and Vienna (Golovatch et al., 2000).
This species account is based on Lee (2006).
References
Read, H.J. (2008) Records of millipedes from Kew gardens and the Eden Project, including descriptions of three species. Bulletin of the British Myriapod & Isopod Group 23: 27-35.
Links
MilliBase - Global catalogue of Millipedes: https://millibase.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=937952
BRC code
53
idBmigTaxa
Mil_161