Sechelleptus

There are currently 31 species of the genus Sechelleptus accepted, with the majority of species being found in Madagascar. Other species are found in the Seychelles, the Comoros Islands, and Tanzania. Due to the relative obscurity of many of the works describing the various species of Sechelleptus, a plurality of large-bodied round millipedes from the region, and a lack of information regarding locales, all identifications of large spirostreptids out of Madagascar as Sechelleptus should be taken with a grain of salt, and specimens of uncertain origin should never be mixed with others to avoid accidental hybridization.

A variety, or possibly a variety, of species from Madagascar, have been brought into the trade, usually under the name Colossobolus giganteus, though these identifications are dubious (specimens brought in under this name are spirostreptids, while C. giganteus is a spirobolid). Later identifications usually result in specimens being labeled as S. argus or S. lambertoni, though the plurality of species and lack of accurate locale information leaves these identifications somewhat unsure as well. In some European circles specimens are labeled as "Spirostreptidae sp. number", and what is suspected to be S. lambertoni has been labeled as sp. "13" per this report. S. lambertoni has been bred in captivity in both the USA and Europe, and generally reaches to about 8"/20.3 cm. Spirostreptidae sp. "6" could also be a species (or two; there is both black-legged and orange-legged stocks) of unidentified Sechelleptus. A final species of Sechelleptus, the fantastically-colored pyrhozonus, has been seen in Europe on a number of occasions (often mislabeled under its old name Spirostreptus pyrhozonus); it has been reported to have bred in captivity.

From information available, it appears that Sechelleptus does well with standard millipede care, though it seems that enthusiasts are either wildly successful or fail miserably in breeding them. Why this is is still not clear. This genus as a whole is apparently decently surface-active (except for Spirostreptidae sp. "6", on which there are conflicting reports; German enthusiast report that it is an intensely cryptic species, while several American enthusiasts have noted it can be quite day-active), though usually only at night.

References:

1. Purkart, A. (2021). Sechelleptus lambertoni. Photograph. Permission Granted to Connor Smotzer and The Millipede Enthusiasts Database.