Haplopodoiulus spathifer (Brölemann, 1897)

Kime, Richard Desmond & Enghoff, Henrik, 2017, Atlas of European millipedes 2: Order Julida (Class Diplopoda), European Journal of Taxonomy 346, pp. 1-299 : 92-93

277. Haplopodoiulus spathifer (Brölemann, 1897)

Micropodoiulus spathifer Brölemann, 1897 .

Distribution

ES-SPA, FR-FRA, GB-GRB. Western half of the Pyrenees and at least the eastern half of the Northern Spanish Cordillera, extending north into the Landes in France. Probably introduced into Britain.

Habitat

Deciduous, mixed and coniferous woods: common in forests of Fagus and Quercus (mainly deciduous but some evergreen) and sometimes found with Acer , Alnus , Pinus , Platanus , Robinia and Salix . Associated shrubs or small trees are Buxus , Ilex , Corylus , Ligustrum , Crataegus , Juniperus , Sambucus , Viburnum , Genista , Ruscus , Cornus and Daphne . Lonicera , Clematis and Rubus are frequently present in the woods. It has occasionally been collected in stony pastures but usually in the presence of some thorny bushes, e.g., Prunus and/or a few trees. Most of the reported sites were on limestone, up to 1400 m in the mountains. It shows a preference for deep deciduous leaf litter which retains moisture ( Corbet & Jones 1996).

Remarks

In all probability introduced into the south of England because all four known sites are connected with botanical gardens in which it survives.

Haplopodoiulus spathifer may largely dominate the diplopod population in suitable sites, occurring in very large numbers. The eastern limit of this species in the Pyrenees is fairly clear but the other limits of its distributional range are not yet known. It may well be confined to the Atlantic biogeographic zone.