Spirostreptidae

This family of 100 genera under a single sub-family is highly diverse and broadly distributed across the globe, with concentrations in the Americas and Africa. At least sixteen genera and upwards of thirty species have been kept in captivity with varying degrees of success.

Notes on unidentifiable African Spirostreptidae

Within the millipede-keeping side of the hobby there are a number of unidentified species. This problem can be found in almost all aspects of invertebrate-keeping, and can be quite frustrating for enthusiasts and citizen scientists alike. It becomes even more maddening in light of the fact that there are very few people who are genuinely interested (or who have the necessary funding for pursuing their interest) in millipedes, and even myriapods as a whole, from a scientific perspective. This is true of both academics and regrettably of a number of people who keep millipedes. But that is a digression. The point of the matter is that there remains a very large number of unidentified species within the hobby, in the case of the family Spirostreptidae most usually hailing from Africa, and due to a lack of available research it is quite possible that such species will remain unidentified for many years to come. An example of this is the species that is quite commonly called Mardonius sp. "Red Legs"/"Cameroon Red Legs", or perhaps more egregiously as Spiropoeus fischeri (which has black legs). While it is possible it could belong to either genus (it is unclear whether or not they are an already-described species of another genus), it is not a described species of either as both genera are currently monotypic, and as such they should be labeled Spirostreptidae sp. Another two examples are the species labeled as Spirostreptus sp. "1" and Spirostreptidae sp. "8". Both species have been kept in captivity for over a decade, though they remain unidentifiable with currently available information. For the first, the identification of Spirostreptus is likely incorrect, and thus it should be labelled Spirostreptidae sp. "1".

~Arthroverts (4/22/2021)

Page image (Spiropoeus fischeri) compliments of SDCPs