Flat-backed Millipede - Euryuridae

Description:

Millipede approximately 1-to-1.25 inches long. Hind section of body broad and truncate as opposed to triangular and pointed as in other brightly colored flat-backed millipedes. Edges of trunk segments are orange-colored and triangular, with the point of the triangle at the fore edge of the plate; an orange-colored, approximately triangle-shaped patch is located on the back edge of each segment.

Habitat:

Found under decaying oak log near a small, seasonal spring-fed creek in a mixed hardwood forest.

Notes:

Submitted to Bug Guide: Believed to be Euryurus species, but Auturus may occur in this location as well. http://bugguide.net/node/view/1193132#20... The endemic North American family Euryuridae (Polydesmida) contains 2 genera, each of which contains one species Auturus evides and Euryurus leachii. These are among the very few North American millipeds that one can deliberately try to find, because they occur almost exclusively in association with decaying hardwood logs & stumps near water sources (creeks, seepages, etc.). They are rarely found in just leaf litter and almost never in association with pines. I'll bet the log they found it under was an oak or another hardwood. (Dr Rowland Shelley) – see http://bugguide.net/node/view/101510 Distribution, Euryurus leachii http://www.gbif.org/species/5715431 Distribution, Auturus evides http://www.gbif.org/species/1017997 Based on known distribution, more like to be Euryurus leachii than Auturus evides