Browsing by Author "Kasson, Matt T."

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    Natural history of the social millipede Brachycybe lecontii Wood, 1864
    Wong, Victoria L.; Hennen, Derek A.; Macias, Angie M.; Brewer, Michael S.; Kasson, Matt T.; Marek, Paul E. (2020-04-03)
    The millipede Brachycybe lecontii Wood, 1864 is a fungivorous social millipede known for paternal care of eggs and forming multi-generational aggregations. We investigated the life history, paternal care, chemical defence, feeding and social behaviour of B. lecontii and provided morphological and anatomical descriptions, using light and scanning electron microscopy. Based on observations of B. lecontii from 13 locations throughout its distribution, we report the following natural history aspects. The oviposition period of B. lecontii lasted from mid-April to late June and the incubation period lasted 3-4 weeks. Only males cared for the eggs and subsequent care of juveniles was not observed. In one case, the clutches of two males became combined and they were later cared for by only one of the males. The defensive compound of B. lecontii is stored in large glands occupying a third of the paranotal volume and were observed only in stadia II millipedes and older. We observed B. lecontii feeding on fungi of the order Polyporales and describe a cuticular structure on the tip of the labrum that may relate to fungivory. We found that their stellateshaped aggregations (pinwheels) do not form in the absence of fungus and suggest the aggregation is associated with feeding. We describe and illustrate a previously undescribed comb-like structure on the tibia and tarsi of the six anterior-most leg-pairs and measure the colour and spectral reflectance of the B. lecontii exoskeleton.
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    A new species of Illacme from southern California (Siphonophorida, Siphonorhinidae)
    Marek, Paul E.; Hall, Charity L.; Lee, Cedric; Bailey, James; Berger, Matt C.; Kasson, Matt T.; Shear, William (Pensoft, 2023-06)
    The millipede fauna inhabiting deep soil are poorly known. They are small and threadlike, slow moving, lacking pigmentation, and rarely encountered due to their obscure underground way of life. One family, the Siphonorhinidae, encompasses four genera and 12 species in a fragmentary distribution in California, southern Africa, Madagascar, the Malay Archipelago, and Indo-Burma. The family is represented in the Western Hemisphere by a single genus, Illacme Cook & Loomis, 1928 from California, with its closest known relative, Nematozonium filum Verhoeff, 1939, from southern Africa. A new species of this family is documented from soil microhabitats in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Illacme socal Marek & Shear, sp. nov. Based on this discovery and the recent documentation of other endogean millipede species, we show that these grossly understudied subterranean fauna represent the next frontier of discovery. However, they are threatened by encroaching human settlement and habitat loss, and conservation of this species and other subterranean fauna is of high importance.