{{Short description|Species of centipede}} {{Speciesbox | taxon = Geophilus persephones | authority = Foddai & [[Alessandro Minelli (biologist)|Minelli]], 1999 }} '''''Geophilus persephones''''' is a [[species]] of [[Geophilomorpha|soil centipede]] in the [[Family (taxonomy)|family]] [[Geophilidae]].<ref name=":02">{{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 persephones Foddai & Minelli, 1999 |url=https://chilobase.biologia.unipd.it/searches/result_species/3907 |access-date=2025-11-17 |website=ChiloBase 2.0 - A World Catalogue of Centipedes (Chilopoda)}}</ref><ref name="Global Biodiversity Information Facility - Geophilus persephones - (Foddai & Minelli, 1999)">{{cite web |title=Geophilus persephones (Foddai & Minelli, 1999) |url=https://www.gbif.org/species/2233673 |website=[[Global Biodiversity Information Facility]] |access-date=25 April 2021}}</ref><ref name="ITIS standard report - Geophilus persephones (Foddai and Minelli, 1999)">{{cite web |title=ITIS standard report - Geophilus persephones (Foddai and Minelli, 1999) |url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1092612#null |website=[[Integrated Taxonomic Information System]] |access-date=25 April 2021}}</ref> This [[centipede]] was discovered in a cave in southern [[France]].<ref name=":1">{{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> This species is named for [[Persephone]], the queen of the underworld in [[Greek mythology]],<ref name="The Washington Post - June 30, 2015 - Say hello to the centipede from hell">{{cite news |last1=Feltman |first1=Rachel |title=Say hello to the centipede from hell |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/06/30/say-hello-to-the-centipede-from-hell/ |access-date=25 April 2021 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=June 30, 2015 |ref=The Washington Post - June 30, 2015 - Say hello to the centipede from hell}}</ref> and was the first [[Troglomorphism|troglomorphic]] centipede in the [[Order (biology)|order]] [[Geophilomorpha]] to be discovered and remains one of only a few known in this order.<ref name=":1" /><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> This centipede features only 29 pairs of legs and is one of only two species in the family Geophilidae (and one of only six species in the order Geophilomorpha) found with so few legs.<ref>{{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 |hdl=11336/3449 |issn=1807-0205 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Stoev |first1=Pavel |last2=Akkari |first2=Nesrine |last3=Komericki |first3=Ana |last4=Edgecombe |first4=Gregory |last5=Bonato |first5=Lucio |date=2015-06-30 |title=At the end of the rope: Geophilus hadesi sp. n. – the world's deepest cave-dwelling centipede (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae) |url=https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/5527/ |journal=ZooKeys |language=en |issue=510 |pages=95–114 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.510.9614 |issn=1313-2970 |pmc=4523767 |pmid=26257537 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bonato |first1=Lucio |last2=Minelli |first2=Alessandro |last3=Drago |first3=Leandro |last4=Pereira |first4=Luis Alberto |date=2015-09-25 |title=The phylogenetic position of Dinogeophilus and a new evolutionary framework for the smallest epimorphic centipedes (Chilopoda: Epimorpha) |journal=Contributions to Zoology |volume=84 |issue=3 |pages=237–253 |doi=10.1163/18759866-08403004 |hdl=11577/3146565 |issn=1875-9866 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Stojanović-2024">{{Cite journal |last1=Stojanović |first1=Dalibor Z. |last2=Šević |first2=Mirko |last3=Makarov |first3=Slobodan E. |date=2024-03-07 |title=A new dwarf schendylid centipede (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha: Schendylidae) with a low number of legs from Serbia, Balkan Peninsula |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378796695 |journal=Zootaxa |language=en |volume=5419 |issue=3 |pages=401–418 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.5419.3.5 |issn=1175-5334 |pmid=38480317}}</ref>
== Discovery == This species was first [[Species description|described]] in 1999 by the Italian [[Biologist|biologists]] Donatella Foddai and [[Alessandro Minelli (biologist)|Alessandro Minelli]]. They based the original description of this species on a male [[holotype]] collected in 1995 by the biospeleologist Gianfranco Caoduro in the [[Gouffre de la Pierre Saint-Martin]] cave in the [[Departments of France|department]] of [[Pyrénées-Atlantiques]] in France. This holotype is deposited in the [[National Museum of Natural History, France|Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle]] in [[Paris]].<ref name=":1" />
== Habitat == The holotype was found on a large boulder surrounded by water in the largest open space in the Pierre Saint-Martin cave, a complex of more than 50 km of passages extending from France into Spain. This cave is the eleventh deepest cave in the world, with a low point 1,342 meters below the most elevated entrance. The climate is stable in the hall where the holotype was collected, with low temperatures and high humidity. An underground river with waterfalls flows through the cave, and sudden floods frequently sweep through the floor of the hall.<ref name=":1" />
== Distribution and conservation == This species is [[Endemism|endemic]] to the Pierre Saint-Martin cave in France and has not been found again since the collection of the only specimen, despite efforts by several surveys in the cave since 2010. This cave, including the large chamber where the holotype was discovered, has been open to the public since 2010, with more than 10,000 visitors per year. This flow of visitors poses a threat to the survival of this species, which may have already disappeared.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iorio |first=Étienne |last2=Carnet |first2=Mathurin |last3=Cherpitel |first3=Thomas |last4=Desmots |first4=Didier |last5=Geoffroy |first5=Jean-Jacques |last6=Jacquemin |first6=Guillaume |last7=Quindroit |first7=Clovis |last8=Racine |first8=Antoine |date=2023 |title=Les Chilopodes de France métropolitaine (Myriapoda, Chilopoda) : liste commentée des espèces avec état des connaissances et proposition de noms français |url=https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiques/naturae/2023/1 |journal=Naturae |language=French |volume=2023 |issue=1 |pages=1–20}}</ref> Authorities consider this species threatened and vulnerable to extinction at the slightest disturbance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iorio |first=Étienne |last2=Dusoulier |first2=François |last3=Soldati |first3=Fabien |last4=Noël |first4=Franck |last5=Guilloton |first5=Jean-Alain |last6=Doucet |first6=Guillaume |last7=Ponel |first7=Philippe |last8=Dupont |first8=Pascal |last9=Krieg-Jacquier |first9=Régis |last10=Chemin |first10=Stéphane |last11=Tillier |first11=Pierre |last12=Touroult |first12=Julien |date=2022 |title=Les Arthropodes terrestres dans les études d’impact : limites actuelles et propositions pour une meilleure prise en compte des enjeux de conservation |url=https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiques/naturae/2022/4 |journal=Naturae |language=French |volume=2022 |issue=4 |pages=43–99}}</ref>
== Description == The species ''G. persephones'' is small, known only from a single male specimen measuring 16.2 mm in length, and features only 29 leg pairs. This specimen (preserved in alcohol) is a pale golden yellow. The distal ends of the [[Forcipule|forcipules]] and the claws on the walking legs are slightly reddish brown.<ref name=":1" /> Like other [[Geophilomorpha|geophilomorphs]], this species is blind, has a flattened trunk, and is well adapted to underground life.<ref name=":0" /> This centipede also exhibits troglomorphic features, including elongated [[Antenna (zoology)|antennae]] (7.2 times as long as the dorsal plate on the head), long legs, and abundant sensory [[Seta|setae]].<ref name=":1" />
This species also exhibits other traits that distinguish this centipede from many other species of ''[[Geophilus]]''. For example, the [[Maxilla (arthropod mouthpart)|telopodites]] of the second [[Maxilla (arthropod mouthpart)|maxillae]] in the holotype of this species ends in tiny [[Tubercle|tubercles]] rather than claws, with one tubercle on the right side and two on the left. Furthermore, the second through the thirteenth [[Sternum (arthropod anatomy)|sternites]] in this centipede feature carpophagus structures, in which a peg projecting from the posterior margin of one sternite is associated with a pit or socket in the anterior margin of the next sternite.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":7">{{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> An especially distinctive feature of this centipede is the [[Labrum (arthropod mouthpart)|labrum]], which is underdeveloped and not divided into the usual three distinct parts (two lateral and one in the middle). Instead, the lateral parts are entirely absent in this centipede.<ref name=":1" />
== Phylogeny == In 1999, a [[Cladistics|cladistic]] analysis based on the [[Morphology (biology)|morphology]] of ten European species of ''Geophilus'' placed ''G.'' ''persephones'' in a [[clade]] with [[Geophilus oligopus|''G.'' ''oligopus'']], which emerges as the closest relative of ''G. persephones'' in a [[phylogenetic tree]].<ref name=":1" /> This analysis also found that these two close relatives form a [[sister group]] for ''[[Geophilus insculptus|G. insculptus]]'',<ref name=":1" /> which has since been deemed to be a [[Synonym (taxonomy)|junior synonym]] for ''G. alpinus'',<ref name=":022">{{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 insculptus Attems, 1895 |url=https://chilobase.biologia.unipd.it/searches/result_species/3522 |access-date=2025-11-17 |website=ChiloBase 2.0 - A World Catalogue of Centipedes (Chilopoda)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bonato |first=Lucio |last2=Minelli |first2=Alessandro |date=2014-03-03 |title=Chilopoda Geophilomorpha of Europe: a revised list of species, with taxonomic and nomenclatorial notes |url=https://mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.3770.1.1 |journal=Zootaxa |language=en |volume=3770 |issue=1 |pages=1–136 [31] |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3770.1.1 |issn=1175-5334|url-access=subscription }}</ref> which in turn is deemed to be a junior synonym of ''[[Geophilus impressus|G. impressus]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2020-04-30 |title=Opinion 2450 (Case 3673) – Geophilus alpinus Meinert, 1870 (Chilopoda): specific name not conserved |url=https://bioone.org/journals/the-bulletin-of-zoological-nomenclature/volume-77/issue-1/bzn.v77.a016/Opinion-2450-Case-3673--Geophilus-alpinus-Meinert-1870-Chilopoda/10.21805/bzn.v77.a016.full |journal=The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=55 |doi=10.21805/bzn.v77.a016 |issn=0007-5167|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Geophilus impressus {{!}} British Myriapod and Isopod Group |url=https://bmig.org.uk/species/geophilus-impressus-(=insculptus) |access-date=2025-11-18 |website=bmig.org.uk}}</ref> These three close relatives, ''G. persephones,'' ''G. oligopus'', and ''G. impressus'', together form a [[species complex]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Popovici |first=George |date=2022-04-27 |title=Pushing the Limits: New Data on the Morphology of Geophilus impressus C. L. Koch, 1847 (Geophilomorpha: Geophilidae) |url=https://www.biotaxa.org/em/article/view/75092 |journal=Ecologica Montenegrina |volume=53 |pages=38–44 |doi=10.37828/em.2022.53.5 |issn=2336-9744|doi-access=free }}</ref> These three species share many traits, including second maxillae that end in tubercles, carpophagus structures on the anterior sternites, and long setae on the head, trunk, and legs.<ref name=":1" />
The species ''G. persephones'' can be distinguished from both of these close relatives, however, based on other traits. For example, this species has fewer leg pairs than either ''G. oligopus'' (at least 37)<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last1=Stojanović |first1=Dalibor Z. |last2=Mitić |first2=Bojan M. |last3=Gedged |first3=Amna M. |last4=Antić |first4=Dragan Ž |last5=Makarov |first5=Slobodan E. |date=2019-08-23 |title=Geophilus serbicus sp. nov., a new species from the Balkan Peninsula (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha: Geophilidae) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335340010 |journal=Zootaxa |language=en |volume=4658 |issue=3 |pages=556–570 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4658.3.7 |issn=1175-5334 |pmid=31716735}}</ref> or ''G. impressus'' (at least 39).<ref name=":2" /> Furthermore, each antenna is much longer than the dorsal plate in ''G. persephones'' (7,2 times longer) when compared to either ''G. oligopus'' (about 3.4 to 4 times longer) or ''G. impressus'' (about 3 to 4 times longer).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":2" /> Moreover, the labrum is divided into the usual three parts in ''G. oligopus'' and ''G. impressus'' but not in ''G. persephones''.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
==See also== * ''[[Geophilus hadesi]]'' * ''[[Geophilus impressus]]'' * ''[[Geophilus oligopus]]''
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q6507161}}
[[Category:Geophilus|persephones]] [[Category:Cave arthropods]] [[Category:Taxa named by Alessandro Minelli]] [[Category:Animals described in 1999]]