Mauriesia

Chang, Hsueh-Wen, 2010, Pill-millipedes (Glomerida, Diplopoda) in Taiwan, Zootaxa 2477, pp. 1-20 : 2-3

Place of Mauriesia in the order Glomerida

According to Mauriès (2006), the order Glomerida contains two superfamilies, the Glomeridelloidea with the single family Glomeridellidae , and the Glomeroidea with two families, Protoglomeridae and Glomeridae . The Glomeridelloidea harbours only two genera with approximately 25 species (Mauriès 2006), all restricted to the Mediterranean region and characterized by two pairs of enlarged and strongly elongated telopods (male legs 18 and 19), each composed of 3–4 segments, of which the distal 2–3 segments form pincers.

In contrast, the superfamily Glomeroidea comprises the bulk of Glomerida (Holarctic and Southeast Asia down to Sulawesi in the southeast), being characterized by only a single pair of telopods (male legs 19), while male legs 18 are somewhat reduced and forming no pincers. Of the two families of Glomeroidea, the Protoglomeridae is a small family with three genera in the Mediterranean region and one genus in the Nearctic. Their telopod shows the coxa and four telopoditomeres, of which the prefemur, femur and tibia are either completely (Mediterranean forms) or nearly so (Nearctic species) devoid of setae on the mesal face; the femur carries a finger-shaped distomedial process placed opposite to the acropodite and thus forming pincers.

The second family of Glomeroidea, the Glomeridae , is by far the largest in Glomerida , being characterized by some lamellar outgrowths/processes present on the medial face of the telopod femur and tibia, often also accompanied by setae, simple or borne on finger-shaped processes, on the prefemur.

Since Mauriesia has only one pair of telopods, it clearly falls into the Glomeroidea, while the presence of a mesal seta on the prefemur, as well as of the various outgrowths on the femur and tibia show that Mauriesia definitely belongs in the family Glomeridae .