{{Short description|Species of centipede}} {{Speciesbox | image = Geophilus hadesi - habitus of male specimen (CBSS - CHP515) - Oo 46041.jpg | taxon = Geophilus hadesi | authority = Stoev ''et al.'', 2015 }}
'''''Geophilus hadesi''''' is a [[species]] of [[Geophilomorpha|soil centipede]] in the [[Family (taxonomy)|family]] [[Geophilidae]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=ITIS - Report: Geophilus hadesi |url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1092293#null |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=www.itis.gov |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Bonato |first1=L. |last2=Chagas Junior |first2=A. |last3=Edgecombe |first3=G.D. |last4=Lewis |first4=J.G.E. |last5=Minelli |first5=A. |last6=Pereira |first6=L.A. |last7=Shelley |first7=R.M. |last8=Stoev |first8=P. |last9=Zapparoli |first9=M. |date=2016 |title=Geophilus hadesi Stoev, Akkari, Komerički, Edgecombe & Bonato, 2015 |url=https://chilobase.biologia.unipd.it/searches/result_species/4350 |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=ChiloBase 2.0 - A World Catalogue of Centipedes (Chilopoda)}}</ref> This [[centipede]] is a [[List of troglobites|troglobite]], spending its entire life cycle in a cave environment. This species and ''[[Geophilus persephones]]'' are the only two troglobites known in the [[genus]] ''[[Geophilus]]'' and among the few known in the [[Order (biology)|order]] [[Geophilomorpha]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bonato |first1=Lucio |last2=Ferreira |first2=Rodrigo Lopes |date=2023-12-01 |title=Assessing troglomorphic and phylogenetically informative traits in troglobionts: a new cave-dwelling centipede illuminates the evolution of a soil-dwelling lineage (Chilopoda: Geophilidae) |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-023-00618-7 |journal=Organisms Diversity & Evolution |language=en |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=833–856 [Table 3] |doi=10.1007/s13127-023-00618-7 |issn=1618-1077|hdl=11577/3491565 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chagas-Jr |first1=Amazonas |last2=Bichuette |first2=Maria Elina |date=2018-02-12 |title=A synopsis of centipedes in Brazilian caves: hidden species diversity that needs conservation (Myriapoda, Chilopoda) |journal=ZooKeys |language=en |issue=737 |pages=13–56 [14] |doi=10.3897/zookeys.737.20307 |doi-access=free |issn=1313-2970 |pmc=5904458 |pmid=29674871}}</ref> The species ''G. hadesi'' is named after [[Hades]], god of the underworld in [[Greek mythology]] and the husband of [[Persephone]], the namesake of the first [[Troglomorphism|troglomorphic]] species (adapted to life in caves) discovered among the soil centipedes.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Foddai |first1=D. |last2=Minelli |first2=A. |date=2010-12-03 |title=A troglomorphic geophilomorph centipede from southern France (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha: Geophilidae) |url=https://inpn.mnhn.fr/docs-web/docs/download/31401 |journal=Journal of Natural History |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=267–287 |doi=10.1080/002229399300416 |url-access=subscription |access-date=}}</ref> The species ''G. hadesi'' has been observed in a cave as far as 1,100 meters below the surface, the deepest underground that any centipede has ever been recorded.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015" />
== Discovery == This species was first described in 2015 by a team of [[Biologist|biologists]] led by the Bulgarian [[Myriapodology|myriapodologist]] [[species:Pavel_Stoev|Pavel Stoev]] of the [[National Museum of Natural History, Bulgaria|National Museum of Natural History]] in [[Sofia]], [[Bulgaria]]. The original description of this species is based on three specimens collected by [[Biospeleology|biospeleologists]] in 2011 from three different caves in the [[Velebit]] mountains in [[Croatia]]. The first specimen collected, a female [[holotype]], was found 250 meters underground in the Munižaba cave. The second, a female [[paratype]], was found 500 meters underground in the [[Muda Labudova]] cave. The third, a male specimen, was found 980 meters underground in the [[Velebit caves|Lukina jama]] cave, the 15th deepest cave in the world. Another specimen was seen in the same cave at a depth of about 1,100 meters but could not be collected.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015" />
== Description == Like other [[Geophilomorpha|soil centipedes]], this species is blind, has a flattened body, and is well adapted to life underground. This species also exhibits troglomorphic features, such as elongated appendages (including long [[Antenna (biology)|antennae]], walking legs, and [[ultimate legs]]), as well as elongated trunk segments and unusually long claws on its legs. The female specimens range from about 22 mm in length (in the paratype) to a maximum length of 28 mm (in the holotype); the male specimen measures 27 mm in length. Specimens of both sexes have only 33 pairs of legs.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015">{{cite journal|last1=Stoev|first1=Pavel|last2=Akkari|first2=Nesrine|last3=Komericki|first3=Ana|last4=Edgecombe|first4=Gregory|last5=Bonato|first5=Lucio|title=At the end of the rope: ''Geophilus hadesi'' sp. n. – the world's deepest cave-dwelling centipede (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae)|journal=ZooKeys|date=2015|issue=510|pages=95–114|doi=10.3897/zookeys.510.9614|url=https://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=5527&display_type=list&element_type=2|pmid=26257537|pmc=4523767|doi-access=free}}</ref>
The [[Forcipule|forcipules]] feature only a single small [[Denticle (tooth feature)|denticle]], located at the base of the ultimate article.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last1=Bonato |first1=Lucio |last2=Edgecombe |first2=Gregory |last3=Lewis |first3=John |last4=Minelli |first4=Alessandro |last5=Pereira |first5=Luis |last6=Shelley |first6=Rowland |last7=Zapparoli |first7=Marzio |date=2010-11-18 |title=A common terminology for the external anatomy of centipedes (Chilopoda) |journal=ZooKeys |language=en |issue=69 |pages=17–51 |bibcode=2010ZooK...69...17B |doi=10.3897/zookeys.69.737 |issn=1313-2970 |pmc=3088443 |pmid=21594038 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The metasternites in the anterior part of the trunk, except for the first segment, feature pits on the anterior margin. The posterior margin of the metasternites features a field of pores, with these pore-fields forming a single transverse band on each metasternite in the anterior half of the trunk but dividing into two groups in the posterior half of the trunk.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015" />
This species shares many traits with other centipedes in the [[genus]] ''[[Geophilus]]''. For example, each of the ultimate legs ends in a claw, and the ventral side of these legs features pores, with most of these coxal pores close to the adjacent [[Sternum (arthropod anatomy)|sternite]]. Furthermore, the [[Maxilla (arthropod mouthpart)|coxosternite]] of the second [[Maxilla (arthropod mouthpart)|maxillae]] is entire rather than divided, and the coxosternite of the [[Forcipule|forcipular]] segment features incomplete chitin-lines. Moreover, as in many species in the same genus, the anterior trunk metasternites feature anterior pits and posterior pore-fields in the form of transverse bands.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last1=Bonato |first1=Lucio |title=The Myriapoda. Volume 1 |last2=Edgecombe |first2=Gregory D. |last3=Zapparoli |first3=Marzio |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |isbn=978-90-04-18826-6 |editor-last=Minelli |editor-first=Alessandro |location=Leiden |pages=363–443 [414] |chapter=Chilopoda – Taxonomic overview |oclc=812207443}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crabill |first1=Ralph E. |date=1954 |title=A conspectus of the northeastern North American species of ''Geophilus'' (Chilopoda Geophilomorpha Geophilidae) |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16179236 |journal=Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington |volume=56 |pages=172–188 [174] |doi= |access-date=24 October 2021 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref>
Two other species in the genus ''Geophilus'' resemble ''G. hadesi'' most closely: ''G. persephones'' and ''G. piae'', which share a number of distinctive traits with ''G. hadesi''. These traits include a modest number of legs: ''G. persephones'' has 29 leg pairs (in the only recorded specimen, a male),<ref name="Pereira-2013">{{Cite journal |last=Pereira |first=Luis Alberto |date=2013-01-01 |title=Discovery of a second geophilomorph species (Myriapoda: Chilopoda) having twenty-seven leg-bearing segments, the lowest number recorded up to the present in the centipede order Geophilomorpha |journal=Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia |language=en |volume=53 |issue=13 |pages=163–185 |doi=10.1590/S0031-10492013001300001 |issn=1807-0205 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=11336/3449}}</ref> and ''G. piae'' can have as few as 35 pairs in males and 37 pairs in females.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Minelli |first=Alessandro |date=1982 |title=On Sardinian centipedes (Chilopoda) |journal=Bolletino di Zoologia |language=en |volume=49 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1080/11250008209439365 |doi-access=free}}</ref> All three species also feature [[Sternum (arthropod anatomy)|sternal]] pore-fields that extend to the posterior parts of the trunk.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015" /> Traits shared by these three species also include second maxillae that end in a stout [[tubercle]] with a small tip instead of a curved article that tapers gradually.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bonato |first1=Lucio |last2=Edgecombe |first2=Gregory |last3=Lewis |first3=John |last4=Minelli |first4=Alessandro |last5=Pereira |first5=Luis |last6=Shelley |first6=Rowland |last7=Zapparoli |first7=Marzio |date=2010-11-18 |title=A common terminology for the external anatomy of centipedes (Chilopoda) |url=https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/2466/ |journal=ZooKeys |language=en |issue=69 |pages=17–51 |bibcode=2010ZooK...69...17B |doi=10.3897/zookeys.69.737 |issn=1313-2970 |pmc=3088443 |pmid=21594038 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Furthermore, the species ''G. persephones'' and ''G. hadesi'' also share troglomorphic features, such as long antennae and legs.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015" />
The species ''G. hadesi'', however, is larger than either ''G. persephones'', which measures only 16.2 mm in length, or ''G. piae'', which reaches only 11 mm in length. The other two species may also be distinguished from ''G. hadesi'' by the pattern of coxal pores on ventral side of the ultimate legs: In ''G. hadesi'', one pore is isolated in a distinctive position posterior to the other pores.<ref name="Stoev et al 2015" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q20635184}}
[[Category:Geophilus|hadesi]] [[Category:Animals described in 2015]] [[Category:Myriapods of Europe]] [[Category:Endemic fauna of Croatia]] [[Category:Cave arthropods]]