Brachoria

Brachoria is a medium-sized genus of polydesmid millipedes in the Apheloriini tribe with 38 accepted species (1). Citizen science observations report the genus ranges from northern Alabama and Georgia in the south up into Kentucky and West Virginia to the north, and west into southern Louisiana and Mississippi; there is a higher concentration of sightings in the lower Appalachian Mountains (2). In the scholarly literature Rowland M. Shelley noted that a complex diversity of potential Brachoria sp. had been reported in the Blue Ridge Province of central/western North Carolina (3), and Paul E. Marek and Jason E. Bond in 2006 described the Valley and Ridge province, and the Cumberland Plateau section of the Appalachian Highlands, as having the highest density of Brachoria sp. The genus is also found from southwestern Pennsylvania and southeastern Indiana into western North Carolina and down into eastern Louisiana (4).

In the same 2006 study Marek and Bond found that Brachoria, itself separated from Sigmoria at an earlier time, was polyphyletic (two different genetic lineages, each deserving of their own genus, were lumped into Brachoria together, 4). They described a new genus, Appalachioria, to correct the problem, but this has not been widely accepted yet and further analysis needs to be done on Apheloriini as a whole to fully resolve the issue.

Care information is very limited for Brachoria as though the genus was described in 1939, it has largely remained in the shadow of the better-known Apheloria and Sigmoria. Due to the morphological similarities between all these genera, misidentifications are rife amongst enthusiasts and breeders (5).
Brachoria typically reach a maximum length of 40mm (1.57"/4 cm), with a maximum width of 9.3mm at the 10th segment (3). The feeding habits of both Brachoria and Appalachioria are largely unknown at this time.

  1. Sierwald, P.; Spelda, J. (2021). MilliBase. Brachoria Chamberlin, 1939. Accessed at: http://www.millibase.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=891148

  2. iNaturalist. (2021). Appalachian Mimic Millipedes (Genus Brachoria). Map. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/171260-Brachoria

  3. Shelley, R. M. (1979). The Status of Sigmoria gracilipes Chamberlin, with Remarks on the Milliped Genus Brachoria (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae). The Florida Entomologist, 62(3), 220–223. https://doi.org/10.2307/3494060

  4. Marek, P., Bond, J. (2006). Phylogenetic systematics of the colorful, cyanide-producing millipedes of Appalachia (Polydesmida, Xystodesmidae, Apheloriini) using a total evidence Bayesian approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 41, 704-729. https://www.fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/marek&bond_2006.pdf

  5. Chamberlin, R. V. (1939). On some diplopods of the family Fontariidae. Bulletin of the University of Utah, Biological Series. 30(2): 1-19. Salt Lake City. https://collections.lib.utah.edu/dl_files/90/6b/906b74cdc183c1c1784aacbd40560fc560b79820.pdf