Melaphe

Melaphe Cook, 1904, is a small genus consisting of 9 species as of 2021 by Sierwald & Spelda (2021) that ranges along the Mediterranean Sea coastline of Turkey. It is also found on Cyprus and on the island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea (2).

Melaphe cypria and vestita appear to be the only species that has made it into captivity, with reports from Germany and Slovakia (3).

Regarding feeding, an unidentified species refused standard millipede food, only feeding on well-rotted wood and leaves. The same species was to found to do best at temperatures around 20°C/68°F (4).

Cultivation report and wild observations of Melaphe cypria and Melaphe vestita, by Adriàn Purkart

I was lucky to collect Melaphe cypria in Cyprus and Melaphe vestita in Rhodes myself. Anyway, I was not able to breed either of them. Several specimens were living for months, mainly hidden in substrate with not much surface activity. I have not observed any mating activity as well. Also, for the whole time, there were a minimum of fecal droppings, so I suspect they were starving or in a kind of hibernation/aestivation stage. In nature, I observed only adult specimens and no juveniles. To be honest, I do not know its bionomics well, all of them I found under stones in light pine forests.

Melaphe cypria, photo courtesy of Adriàn Purkart (5).

Sierwald, P.; Spelda, J. (2021). MilliBase. Melaphe Cook, 1904. Accessed at: http://www.millibase.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=892003 on 2021-11-11
Genus Melaphe. (2022). Retrieved 22 January 2022, from https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/545136-Melaphe
Purkart, A. (2019). Skippy´s millipedes. Accessed at: https://arachnoboards.com/threads/skippy%C2%B4s-millipedes.323018/ on 2021-11-11
Shura Sigling. (N.A). Sigling, S. (N.A.). Familie Xystodesmidae, Melaphe. http://millipeden.org/2012/mp_pages/mp1078_1.html
Purkart, A. (2019). Melaphe cypria. Photograph. Permission granted to TMED.

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