A FOURTH BAHAMIAN RECORD OF THE MILLIPED, AMPHELICTOGON SUBTERRANEUS BAHAMIENSIS CHAMBERLIN, 1918 (POLYDESMIDA: CHELODESMIDAE)
2007; American Entomological Society; Volume: 118; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.3157/0013-872x(2007)118[323
ISSN2162-3236
Autores Tópico(s)Ichthyology and Marine Biology
Resumo2The milliped, Amphelictogon subterraneus bahamiensis Chamberlin, 1918, a senior synonym of A. bidens Loomis, 1934, is common in Cayo Coco, in the Archipielago de Camaguey, Cuba, and is known from three islands in the Bahamas: Andros, Cat, and Eleuthera (Chamberlin 1918, Perez-Asso 1996, Shelley 2003). It is the only Bahamian representative of the Chelodesmidae and the polydesmidan suborder Leptodesmidea, and these occurrences are the only New World representations of the family north of the Tropic of Cancer. Shelley (2003) hypothesized that the Bahamian populations arose during the Pleistocene via rafting between the existing Cuban and “Great Bahama Bank” land masses, whereupon the milliped dispersed through the latter. The present populations therefore represent fragments of the Pleistocene population that became isolated on today’s islands as sea levels rose in the post-Pleistocene era. If true and if modern populations survive, A. s. bahamiensis would be expected on other islands that were formerly united in the “Great Bahama Bank” land mass – Long Island, the Exumas, New Providence, the Guana Cays, and possibly Bimini (see
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