Vascoblaniulus cabidochei Mauriès, 1967

Kime, Richard Desmond & Enghoff, Henrik, 2017, Atlas of European millipedes 2: Order Julida (Class Diplopoda), European Journal of Taxonomy 346, pp. 1-299 : 36

49. Vascoblaniulus cabidochei Mauriès, 1967

Distribution

FR-FRA (Gouffre de la Pierre-Saint-Martin in the Pyrenees, Basque Region).

Habitat

Cavernicolous. Cabidoche (1968: 670) described the unusual habitat of the species in detail: “Among the species living in this cavity, Vascoblaniuilus cabidochei should be especially emphasized; it is localised very differently from the remaining fauna ... and is never found together with … species which come to baits. (This is in contrast to what one can usually see in numerous caves at low altitude in the same region, where diplopods of the genus Typhloblaniulus = [ Blaniulus ] litterally swarm on baits. The new genus described by Mauriès is thus quite distinct: in addition to morphological criteria its ecology is quite different because it is the only species which frequents the banks of subterranean watercourses” (translated from French). In the latter respect, V. cabidochei is reminiscent of certain Trogloiulus and Typhloiulus species ( Enghoff 1985b).

Remarks

Its mouthparts are very different from those of other blaniulids, probably an adaptation to living in very wet places ( Enghoff 1985b).