Geophilus sp.

Cassar, Thomas & Zapparoli, Marzio, 2021, Additions to the centipede (Chilopoda) fauna of the Maltese Islands, with new distributional records and an updated checklist, Soil Organisms 93 (3), pp. 153-160 : 156

Geophilus sp. cf. alpinus Meinert, 1870

Material examined. MALTA: 1 immature (22 mm, 53 lp), Buskett , 27 February 2021, leg. T. Cassar .

Distribution. G. alpinus is an European species whose distribution includes Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Czech Republic, European Russia, France (mainland, Corsica), Germany, Greece (mainland, Crete), Hungary, Ireland, Italy (mainland, Sardinia, Sicily), Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, United Kingdom; also recorded in Morocco and Tunisia ( Zapparoli 2009, Simaiakis et al. 2013, Tuf & Tajovský 2016).

Notes. The identification of the single specimen is only tentative, because the taxonomy is still uncertain for the group of closely related species containing G. alpinus and other less adequately described species which are very similar. Considering the identification as correct, it represents a new record for the Maltese Islands. The single specimen (22 mm long, with 53 leg pairs) was collected from a semi-natural woodland, one of few such habitats in the Maltese archipelago, suggesting that this species’ distribution in the islands may be fairly restricted.