Allajulus nitidus (Verhoeff, 1891)

Kime, Richard Desmond & Enghoff, Henrik, 2017, Atlas of European millipedes 2: Order Julida (Class Diplopoda), European Journal of Taxonomy 346, pp. 1-299 : 41-42

69. Allajulus nitidus (Verhoeff, 1891)

Iulus nitidus Verhoeff, 1891 .

Cylindroiulus nitidus auct.

Ypsiloniulus nitidus auct.

Cylindroiulus nitidus rhenanus Verhoeff, 1910 .

Distribution

AT, BE, CH, CZ, DE, DK-DEN, FR-FRA, GB-GRB, IS, LU, NL, NO-NOR, PL, SE. Central European, extending north to Scandinavia and Britain.

Habitat

A species particularly found in closed woodland on brown earth soils, strongly associated with clay, mull humus and active calcium, although it does occur on lighter neutral to moderately acidic soils and is scarce or absent from heavy waterlogged soils. Rare in sandy areas and in acidic woodlands on higher ground, yet it has been found on both Muschelkalk and Vosges Sandstone in Alsace, in montane Fagus

woods up to 1600 m in the French Alps ( Geoffroy 1981b) and up to 2175 m in Switzerland (Pedroli- Christen 1993).

Associated with deciduous forest, especially Quercus / Carpinus , and while frequent in beech hangers, less so with Fagus . Other trees and shrubs frequently present are Fraxinus excelsior , Acer campestre A. pseudoplatanus , Prunus avium , Cornus alba and Corylus avellana . In many of these woods ivy ( Hedera helix ) is omnipresent and in many of those on heavy calcareous soils it is by far the dominant species of millipede. Occasionally it is found in mixed forest with Pinus and other conifers.

Allajulus nitidus is most abundant in the lowlands and in the montane zone, increasingly synanthropic in the north of its range.

Remarks

It burrows readily and may be found throughout the year in the soil. It migrates vertically ( Geoffroy 1981a) and is generally nearer the surface during the spring and again in the autumn, being hygrophile. It is very common in suitable soils throughout west-central Europe A very variable species; males may go through several successive morphologically mature stadia; hence, there is a wide range of sizes and body ring numbers ( Sahli 1969, 1986; Voigtländer 1987; Enghoff et al. 1993; Akkari & Enghoff 2011).