Order JULIDA Brandt, 1833

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Introduction

Julida are native to the Northern Hemisphere, with a centre of diversity in the Palaearctic Region (Enghoff 1993; Hoffman 1982). Two of 15 julidan families in the recent classification of Enghoff (1991) are represented in Australia by introduced, mainly synathropic, species. The latter include the small, dark and cylindrical millipedes that often occur in large numbers in parks and gardens, and sometimes invade houses. Because they are so familiar, julidans are regarded as "typical" millipedes in urban and suburban Australia, although they are far from typical of our fauna. The defensive secretions of many julidans include benzoquinones (Huth 2000). Other millipedes (and other arthropods) should always be preserved separately from julidans, as benzoquinones can harden alcohol-preserved specimens and stain them a dark red.

General References

Enghoff, H. 1991. A revised cladistic analysis and classification of the millipede order Julida, with establishment of four new families and description of a new nemasomatoid genus from Japan. Zeitschrift für Zoologische Systematik und Evolutionsforschung 29: 241-263

Enghoff, H. 1993. Phylogenetic biogeography of a Holarctic group: the julidan millipedes. Cladistic subordinateness as an indicator of dispersal. Journal of Biogeography 20: 525-536

Hoffman, R.L. 1982. Diplopoda. pp. 689-724 in Parker, S.P. (ed.). Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms. Vol. 2. New York : McGraw-Hill.

Huth, A. 2000. Defensive secretions of millipedes: more than just a product of melting point decrease? pp. 191-200 in Wytwer, J. & Golovatch, S. Progress in Studies on Myriapoda and Onychophora. Fragmenta Faunistica (Warsaw) 43(Supplement 2000): i-xiii, 1-395

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