Siphonocryptida

Shelley, Rowland M. & Golovatch, Sergei I., 2011, Atlas of Myriapod Biogeography. I. Indigenous Ordinal and Supra-Ordinal Distributions in the Diplopoda: Perspectives on Taxon Origins and Ages, and a Hypothesis on the Origin and Early Evolution of the Class, Insecta Mundi 2011 (158), pp. 1-134 : 28

Order Siphonocryptida ( Fig. 23)

The second rarest diplopod order, behind Siphoniulida , Siphonocryptida are known from four widely separated Old World regions that span both the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer; distances between them vary from ~ 2,880 km (1,800 mi) to ~ 12,100 km (7,560 mi). Twenty-one localities are known – four in Taiwan, one in Nepal, three in Indonesia (Sumatra), one in peninsular Malaya, nine in the Canary Islands, and three in Madeira ( Pocock 1894; Hoffman 1980a; Enghoff 1992; Enghoff and Golovatch 1995; Vicente and Enghoff 1999; Korsós 2004; Korsós et al. 2008, 2009). As noted by Korsós et al. (2008, 2009), this relictual distribution pattern indicates great age; the only plausible explanation is a once continuous Gondwanan fauna that has either become extinct in intervening areas of modern Asia and Africa or is still undiscovered there. While new records and localities may be found in India and southeast Asia, as suggested by the recent discovery in Nepal (Korsós et al. 2009), most of the hiatus between India and Macaronesia seems too arid for these small millipeds. Perhaps Siphonocryptida’s continued existence in Macaronesia reflects the moist climate on these islands in contrast to the aridity of northern/Mediterranean Africa.