Geoglomeris subterranea Verhoeff, 1908

Haľkova, Beata, Drabova, Martina & Mock, Andrej, 2021, An annotated checklist of millipede fauna from Slovakia, with ecological and biogeographic characteristics, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 71495-71495 : 71495

Geoglomeris subterranea Verhoeff, 1908

Distribution

West and Central European

Notes

R, ed, tp, h

This species was described by Verhoeff (1908) from the neighbourhood of Dresden, Germany, where two females were found on limestone near a brook. In his monograph on the millipede fauna of Czechoslovakia, Lang (1954) presented the finding of G. subterranea in the only Slovak locality from the vicinity of the Bratislava City ( Malé Karpaty Mts.). However, he did not comment on the finding and attached only a picture taken from other literature ( Schubart 1934). Since the cited monograph contains many ambiguities and unreliable data, this information is considered doubtful ( Gulička 1986, Mock 2001a). In the area of Slovakia, it was found only recently ( Haľková et al., unpublished), repeatedly, in karst springs and wetlands on karst bedrock. Detailed morphological study (including SEM), supported by molecular analysis, confirmed the identity of G. subterranea , without any apparent morphological adaptations to aquatic and semi-aquatic habitat. The possibility that this species is not strictly limited to the terrestrial environment has already been suggested by Noll (1939), although his findings were completely forgotten in recent literature. Noll mentioned the presence of Geoglomeris jurassica (a younger synonym of G. subterranea ) in the water of three wells in Northern Bavaria, Germany. The author explained its occurrence as random, presuming the animals entered the well through crevices in the wall.