Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spiracle structure in scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) and its contribution to phylogenetics

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Zoomorphology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The spiracles of scolopendromorph centipedes have long been a source of systematic characters based on their segmental distribution and gross morphology, but microscopic investigations to date have documented only a small number of species. A scanning electron microscopic survey of 34 species that samples the major groups of Scolopendromorpha reveals variability in such features as the structure of the peritremal margin, specific kinds of sensilla and glandular pores on the peritrema, projections on the valves that subdivide the atrium (in Scolopendrinae), and the form of the trichomes around the tracheal openings. Adding new characters from the spiracles to recent morphological datasets for phylogenetic inference reinforces the monophyly of major groups of Scolopendridae and is particularly informative for relationships within Scolopendrini. A bowl-like atrium with the tracheae opening between humps in its floor is more widespread in Scolopendromorpha than previously reported. Shared presence of spiracle muscles in Cryptopidae and Scolopendrinae may reflect convergent evolution of a subatrial cavity in these groups rather than being an apomorphic character for Scolopendromorpha as a whole.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Chagas Júnior A (2008) Revisão sistemática e análise filogenética dos Scolopocryptopinae (Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha). Ph.D. Thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro/Museu Nacional, pp 1–218

  • Chalande J (1885) Recherches anatomiques sur l’appareil respiratoire chez les Chilopodes de France. Bull Soc Hist nat Toulouse 19:39–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Duboscq O (1898) Recherches sur les chilopodes. Arch Zool exp gén Sér 3(6):481–650

    Google Scholar 

  • Edgecombe GD, Koch M (2008) Phylogeny of scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda): morphological analysis featuring characters from the peristomatic area. Cladistics 24:872–901

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Füller H (1960) Untersuchungen über den Bau der Stigmen bei Chilopoden. Zool Jahrb Anat 78:129–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Goloboff PA (1993) Estimating character weights during tree search. Cladistics 9:83–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goloboff PA, Farris JS, Nixon KC (2008) TNT, a free program for phylogenetic analysis. Cladistics 24:774–786

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haase E (1884) Das respirationssystem der Symphylen und Chilopoden. Zool Beitr 1:65–96 (3 pl)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilken G (1997) Tracheal systems in Chilopoda: a comparison under phylogenetic aspects. Ent Scand Suppl 51:49–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilken G (1998) Vergleich von Tracheensystemen unter phylogenetischem Aspekt. Verh naturwiss Ver Hamburg (NF) 27:5–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilken G, Müller CHG, Sombke A, Wirkner CS, Rosenberg J (2011) Chilopoda—tracheal system. In: Minelli A (ed) Treatise on zoology. The Myriapoda, vol 1. Brill, Leiden, pp 137–155

  • Kamenz C, Prendini L (2008) An atlas of book lung fine structure in the order Scorpiones. Bull Amer Mus Nat Hist 316:1–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klok CJ, Mercer RD, Chown SL (2002) Discontinuous gas-exchange in centipedes and its convergent evolution in tracheated arthropods. J Exp Biol 205:1019–1029

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koch M, Edgecombe GD, Shelley RM (2010) Anatomy of Ectonocryptoides (Scolopocryptopidae: Ectonocryptopinae) and the phylogeny of blind Scolopendromorpha (Chilopoda). Int J Myriapodol 3:51–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis JGE (1981) The biology of centipedes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis JGE (1986) The genus Trachycormocephalus a junior synonym of Scolopendra, with remarks on the validity of other genera of the tribe Scolopendrini (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha). J Nat Hist 20:1083–1088

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis JGE (2010) A revision of the rugulosus group of Otostigmus subgenus Otostigmus Porat, 1876 (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae). Zootaxa 2579:1–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis JGE, Hill TJ, Wakley GE (1996) The structure and possible function of the spiracles of some Scolopendridae (Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha). Mém Mus natl Hist nat 169:441–449

    Google Scholar 

  • Manton SM (1965) The evolution of arthropodan locomotory mechanisms, Part 8. Functional requirements and body design in Chilopoda, together with a comparative account of their skeleto-muscular systems and an Appendix on a comparison between burrowing forces of annelids and chilopods and its bearing upon the evolution of the arthropodan haemocoel. J Linn Soc (Zool) 46:252–483

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller CHG, Rosenberg J, Hilken G (2009) Fine structure and phylogenetic significance of ‘flexo-canal epidermal glands’ in Chilopoda. Soil Org 81:269–294

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller CHG, Sombke A, Hilken G, Riberberg J (2011) Chilopoda—sense organs. In: Minelli A (ed) Treatise on zoology—anatomy, taxonomy, biology. The Myriapoda, vol 1, pp 235–278

  • Murienne J, Edgecombe GD, Giribet G (2010) Including secondary structure, fossils and molecular dating in the centipede tree of life. Mol Phylogenet Evol 57:301–313

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nixon KC (2002) WINCLADA, version 1.99.08. Cornell Univ, Ithaca, NY

  • Ribaut H (1923) Chilopodes de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et des Iles Loyalty. In: Sarasin F, Roux J (eds) Nova Caledonia. Recherches scientifique en Nouvelle-Calédonie et aux Iles Loyalty. A. Zoology, 3(1) pp 1–79 (C.W. Kreidel’s Verlag, Berlin, Weisbaden, pp 1–79)

  • Rosenberg J, Müller CHG, Hilken G (2011) Chilopoda—integument and associated organs. In: Minelli A (ed) Treatise on zoology. The Myriapoda, vol 1. Brill, Leiden, pp 67–111

  • Schileyko AA (1992) Scolopenders of Viet-Nam and some aspects of the system of Scolopendromorpha (Chilopoda Epimorpha). Part 1. Arthropoda Selecta 1:5–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Vahtera V, Edgecombe GD, Giribet G (2012) Evolution of blindness in scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha): insights from an expanded sampling of molecular data. Cladistics 38:4–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verhoeff KW (1941) Zur Kenntnis der Chilopoden-Stigmen. Z Morphol Ökol Tiere 38:96–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

V.V.’s work was funded by the Academy of Finland. Most imaging in this work was supported by internal curatorial funds at the MCZ and performed at the Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS, Harvard University), a member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), which is funded by the National Science Foundation under NSF award no. ECS-0335765. Adam Graham and Dave Lange at CNS and Aodhan Butler (then at The Natural History Museum) assisted with the scanning electron microscopy. Lorenzo Prendini and Jeremy Huff kindly lent the AMNH specimens for the study. For provision of specimens collected by them, we thank Henrik Enghoff, Zoltan Korsós, Geoff Monteith, Pedro Oromí, William A. Shear and Pavel Stoev. Carsten Müller kindly advised us on glands. Suggestions by the journal’s referees improved the paper.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Varpu Vahtera

    Present address: Zoology Unit, Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 17, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Varpu Vahtera & Gonzalo Giribet

  2. Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Gregory D. Edgecombe

Authors
  1. Varpu Vahtera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gregory D. Edgecombe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gonzalo Giribet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Varpu Vahtera.

Additional information

Communicated by A. Schmidt-Rhaesa.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Vahtera, V., Edgecombe, G.D. & Giribet, G. Spiracle structure in scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) and its contribution to phylogenetics. Zoomorphology 131, 225–248 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-012-0157-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-012-0157-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation