Pauropodidae

{{Short description|Family of many-legged arthropods}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Pauropodidae sp. (Pauropoda).jpg | image_caption = An unidentified species under a microscope | taxon = Pauropodidae | authority = Lubbock, 1867 }}

'''Pauropodidae''' is a family of pauropods in the order Tetramerocerata. This group is the most diverse family of pauropods, containing 27 genera and more than 800 species.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Scheller |first=Ulf |date=2008 |title=A reclassification of the Pauropoda (Myriapoda) |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ijm/1/1/article-p1.xml |journal=International Journal of Myriapodology |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–38 |doi=10.1163/187525408X316730 |issn=1875-2535 |url-access=subscription |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=ITIS - Report: Pauropodidae |url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=154428#null |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=www.itis.gov |language=en-US}}</ref> These pauropods usually live in the soil on mountains and hills.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal |author1=Hua Guo |author2=Hong-Ying Sun |author3=Chang-Yuan Qian |author4=Hong Shen |author5=Kai-Ya Zhou |year=2010 |title=A new genus and two new species of the subfamily Pauropodinae (Myriapoda: Pauropoda: Pauropodidae) from China |journal=Zoological Science |volume=27 |issue=11 |pages=895–899 |doi=10.2108/zsj.27.895 |pmid=21039130 |s2cid=42544817}}</ref>

== Description == Pauropods in this family are generally whitish and small, less than 2 mm in length.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":3" /> These pauropods feature a ventral antennal branch with one seta and one globulus (i.e., spheroid sense organ).<ref name=":0" /> The dorsal surface of the head features a single anterior seta and four transverse rows of setae.<ref name=":12" />

[[File:Pauropus amicus.jpg|thumb|left|''Pauropus amicus'', ventral and dorsal views]]

The tergites are entire rather than divided into multiple sclerites. These tergites are weakly sclerotized, allowing many species in this family to curve their soft bodies in all directions. The setae on these tergites are arranged in regular transverse rows. The setae on the head and tergites are usually tapering or cylindrical. The middle of the posterior end of the sternum of the pygidium has only one anal plate attached.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Scheller |first=Ulf |date=2011 |title=Pauropoda |url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004188266/B9789004188266_022.xml |journal=Treatise on Zoology - Anatomy, Taxonomy, Biology. The Myriapoda, Volume 1 |language=en |pages=467–508 |doi=10.1163/9789004188266_022|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":0" />

Like most adult pauropods in the order Tetramerocerata,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Enghoff |first1=Henrik |last2=Dohle |first2=Wolfgang |last3=Blower |first3=J. Gordon |date=1993 |title=Anamorphosis in Millipedes (Diplopoda) — The Present State of Knowledge with Some Developmental and Phylogenetic Considerations |url=https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-abstract/109/2/103/2646268?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=109 |issue=2 |pages=103–234|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1993.tb00305.x |url-access=subscription }}</ref> most adults in this family have nine pairs of legs, but adults in one genus, ''Cauvetauropus'', have only eight pairs of legs, and female adults in another genus, ''Decapauropus'', have nine or ten pairs of legs.<ref name=":0" /> The first and last pairs of legs have five segments. In most genera, the remaining legs have six segments instead, but in some genera, all legs may have five segments.<ref name=":12" />

== Distribution == This family has a subcosmopolitan distribution.<ref name=":0" /> Species in this family are found worldwide,<ref name=":3" /> but not in Antarctica.<ref name=":12" /> Three genera in this family, ''Allopauropus'', ''Decapauropus'', and ''Pauropus'', are especially widespread, each with a subcosmopolitan distribution.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":12" /><ref name=":3" />

== Fossil record == This family is notable for including the only known fossil pauropod, ''Eopauropus balticus''.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":12" /> This pauropod was found in Baltic amber from the middle of the Eocene epoch.<ref name=":12" /><ref name="GrimaldiEngel2005">{{cite book |author1=David Grimaldi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odQmAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=Evolution of the Insects |author2=Michael S. Engel |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-107-26877-7 |page=109}}</ref> The discovery of a pauropod in amber is surprising, given that pauropods inhabit the soil, avoid the surface, and thus are rarely trapped in tree resin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weitschat |first1=Wolfgang |title=Biodiversity of Fossils in Amber from the Major World Deposits |last2=Wichard |first2=Wilfried |publisher=Siri Scientific Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-9558636-4-6 |editor=Penney, David |pages=91 |chapter=Baltic amber |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YIb0_tXhT_4C&pg=PA91}}</ref>

==Genera== This family includes 814 species distributed among 27 genera:<ref name=":2" />

* ''Afrauropus'' Remy, 1959 * ''Allopauropus'' Silvestri, 1902 * ''Angkapauropus'' Scheller, 2011 * ''Ataktopauropus'' Scheller, 2012 * ''Cauvetauropus'' Remy, 1952 * ''Dasongius'' Sun & Guo, 2015 * ''Decapauropus'' Remy, 1931 * ''Desmopauropus'' Scheller, 2005 * ''Donzelotauropus'' Remy, 1957 * ''Eburnipauropus'' Scheller, 2008 * ''Ferepauropus'' Scheller, 2008 * ''Hemipauropus'' Silvestri, 1902 * ''Hystrichopauropus'' Remy, 1942 * ''Juxtapauropus'' Scheller, 2007 * ''Kionopauropus'' Scheller, 2009 * ''Monopauropus'' Remy, 1953 * ''Multipauropus'' Scheller, 1977 * ''Neopauropus'' Kishida, 1928 * ''Nesopauropus'' Scheller, 1997 * ''Pauropus'' Lubbock, 1867 * ''Perissopauropus'' Scheller, 1997 * ''Pounamupauropus'' Scheller, 2012 * ''Propepauropus'' Scheller, 1985 * ''Rabaudauropus'' Remy, 1953 * ''Scleropauropus'' Silvestri, 1902 * ''Stylopauropoides'' Remy, 1956 * ''Stylopauropus'' Cook, 1896

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Wikispecies-inline}}

Category:Myriapod families Category:Taxa named by John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury Category:Pauropoda