Research Article Diversity of Millipedes in Alagar Hills...

Hindawi Publishing CorporationInternational Journal of BiodiversityVolume 2013 Article ID 715460 5 pageshttpdxdoiorg1011552013715460

Research ArticleDiversity of Millipedes in Alagar Hills Reserve Forest in TamilNadu India

Periasamy Alagesan and Baluchamy Ramanathan

Post Graduate and Research Department of Zoology Yadava College Madurai Tamil Nadu 625 014 India

Correspondence should be addressed to Periasamy Alagesan maniragavirediffmailcom

Received 10 September 2012 Revised 10 December 2012 Accepted 14 January 2013

Academic Editor Curtis C Daehler

Copyright copy 2013 P Alagesan and B Ramanathan This is an open access article distributed under the Creative CommonsAttribution License which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work isproperly cited

Millipede diversity and abundance were analysed at sites lying between 250 and 650 meters above mean sea level in Alagar Hillsof Eastern Ghats Tamil Nadu India Millipede abundance and diversity peaked at midelevations influenced by favourable nicheand food resources Diversity of millipedes indicates the influence of local habitat and food resource availability In the presentstudy millipede species Harpaphe haydeniana Xenobolus carnifex Arthrosphaera magna Aulacobolus newtoni and Spinotarsuscolosseus are present at midelevation (450MSL) Abundance of millipedes at 450m elevation is due to moderate canopy and litterwhich support understorey vegetation like herbs and shrubs

1 Introduction

Biodiversity offers several direct and indirect economic bene-fits to humankind [1] The interest in diversity especially overthe past few years has focused on how diversity influencesecosystems and ecological processes [2] Ninety-five per-cent of experimental studies support a positive relationshipbetween diversity and ecosystem functioning [3ndash5] Thebiotic diversity tends to play a significant role by enriching thesoil maintaining water and climatic cycles and convertingwaste materials into nutrients Soil macrofauna makes animportant contribution to soil fertility by promoting thestability and productivity of forest ecosystems mainly due totheir influence on soil process such as litter decompositionand nutrient dynamics [6] Furthermore elevation is merelya surrogate for a suite of biotic and abiotic factors that influ-ence species richness [7] Therefore identifying ecologicallymeaningful causal factors is essential in order to explainvariation in species richness along elevation gradients [8]Millipedes belong to class Diplopoda a highly diverse groupof terrestrial organisms with over 12000 described speciesand an estimated 80 000 species yet to be described [9 10]Among soil Arthropods millipedes act as primary destruc-tors of plant debris and play a crucial role in soil formationprocesses Many millipedes can also serve as indicators of

environmental conditions and improve the structure contentof organic matter and nutrient elements of soil [11 12]

Gadagkar et al [13] studied species richness and diversityof ant populations from different localities in Western GhatsIndia Diversity of forest litter-inhabiting ants along an eleva-tion gradient in the Wayanad region of the Western Ghats isstudied by Sabu et al [14] Bharti and Sharma [15] observedthe diversity and abundance of ants along an elevationalgradient in Jammu Kashmir the Himalayas Bubesh Gupthaet al [16] examined the preliminary observation on butterfliesof Seshachalam biosphere reserve Eastern Ghats AndhraPradesh India Diversity indices of tropical cockroach werereported by Bonsals [17] and Padmanaban [18] Distributiondiversity and population dynamics of chosen insects inCourtallam tropical evergreen forest were extensively studiedby Edwin [19] Anu et al [20] studied litter arthropoddiversity in an evergreen forest in the Wayanad region ofWestern Ghats India Biodiversity of spiders in WesternGhats of Tamil Nadu was also reported [21 22] Isabel [23]observed biodiversity of litter arthropod communities inAlagar Hills Reserve forest in Eastern Ghats India In Indiathere is no proper information available on the identificationthe diversity and the role of millipedes in forest ecosystemsHence the broad objective of the present study is to identify

2 International Journal of Biodiversity

and calculate the diversity indices of millipedes species alongan elevation gradient within the Alagar Hills Reserve forestof Eastern Ghats India

2 Materials and Methods

21 StudyArea AlagarHills a biosphere evergreen reserve inTamil Nadu is located in Eastern Ghats (10∘01015840ndash10∘301015840N and75∘551015840ndash78∘201015840 E) 20 km northeast of Madurai city IndiaThevegetation is two layered in which the ground vegetation isvery poor The canopy is open dry deciduous or evergreenvegetation Five locations were selected at different altitudesat Alagar hills (250 350 450 550 and 650m) which werevisited every month from July 2011 to May 2012 The lowestsite was at 250m elevation because that is where millipedesseemed to first occur while 650m is the highest elevationof Alagar hills reserve forest Observation of millipedes wasmade through 6 quadrats (1m times 1m) in each study siteand each sampling date and the mean number of milli-pedesquadrat was calculatedMillipedes were collected fromthe study area by hand picking and species were identified byusing various field guides and available literatures

22 Data Analysis Standard methods were used to calculatethe richness and evenness of millipede species at differentaltitudes The diversity indices were calculated using theLudwig and Reyonlds software package [24] Two indices areneeded to compute Hillrsquos diversity numbers (a) Simpsonrsquosindex and (b) Shannonrsquos indexThesewere calculated by usingthe following formulae

Simpsonrsquos index (120582)

120582 =

119904

sum

119894=1

119899119894(119899119894minus 1)

119899 (119899 minus 1)

(1)

Shannonrsquos index (1198671015840)

1198671015840

=

119904

sum

119894=1

[(

119899119894

119899

) ln(119899119894

119899

)] (2)

3 Results

The following five species of millipedes were identified in thestudy area

(1) Harphaphe haydeniana (Wood 1984) belongs toorder Polydesmida and family Xystodesmidae Hhaydeniana is a yellow spotted millipede and reachesa length of 4-5 cm width of 01 to 03 cm and weightof 08 to 15 g The body is black and is distinctivelymarked along the sides with patches of a yellowishcolour It consists of approximately 15ndash20 body seg-ments bearing a total of 30 (male) or 31 (female) pairsof legs It lives for 2-3 years (Figure 1)

(2) Arthrosphaera magna (Attems 1936) belongs to orderSphaerotheriida and family Sphaerotheriidae Adultshave exactly 13 segments (including collum and anal

Figure 1 Harpaphe haydeniana

segments) and the juveniles are of dark olive greencolour The head of the adult is yellow brown or olivebrown or olive green the second segment is darkbrownwith a black band bordered with yellow colourforming a narrow stripe The average weight lengthand width of an adult millipede range from 45 to125 g from 35 to 65 cm and from 15 to 25 cmrespectively (Figure 2)

(3) Xenobolus carnifex (Fabricius 1775) belongs to orderSpirobolida and family Pachybolidae The body seg-ments are black with a broad median band of darkpink colour Adults have exactly 50 segments andattain an average length of 6 cm and width of 05 cmThe seventh segment in the male is without legs Thesexes are easily distinguishable from the fifth stadiumbased on their length and width Adult males havean average body width of 08 cm and weight of 78 gwhereas the adult female has an average midsegmentwidth of 09 cm and weight of 85 g (Figure 3)

(4) Aulacobolus newtoni (Silvestri 1916) belongs to orderSpirobolida and family Pachybolidae Both sexesexhibit dark greenish yellow colouration and themaximum number of body segments is 50 Adultmales have a width of 08 cm and an average weight of78 g whereas the adult female has an average weightof 85 g and midsegment width of 09 cm The bodylength of both male and female ranges from 80 to95 cm (Figure 4)

(5) Spinotarsus colosseus (Attems 1928) belongs to orderSpirostreptida and familyOdontopygidae Bothmalesand females of S colosseus are of darkblack colourThelength width and weight of the millipede range from65ndash154 cm 03ndash10 cm and 55ndash157 g respectivelyThe number of body segments in adult is 55ndash58(Figure 5)

The maximum number of millipedes (721m2) was observedat 450m and the minimum (251m2) was observed at 650melevation (Figure 6) The density of millipedes decreased inthe order of 350m (393m2) 550m (387m2) and 250m(251m2) elevations Richness indices (119877

1 0607 119877

2 0186)

and Simpsonrsquos index (0207) were found to be lower in themidelevation (450m) than in the other elevations (Table 1)

International Journal of Biodiversity 3

Table 1 Diversity of five different species of millipedes distributed at five elevations of Alagar hills reserve forest

Indices Elevations250m 350m 450m 550m 650m

Richness 1198771

0720 0669 0607 0671 07231198772

0311 0252 0186 0254 0315

Diversity Simpsonrsquos index 0222 0215 0207 0213 0223Shannonrsquos index 1539 1562 1589 1561 1489

Evenness 119864 0955 0970 0981 0969 0924

Figure 2 Arthrosphaera magna

Figure 3 Xenobolus carnifex

Remarkably a very high evenness (0981) was noticed in450m elevation With reference to Shannonrsquos index it wasfound to decrease from 1589 1562 1561 1539 and 1489 at450 350 550 250 and 650m elevations respectively

4 Discussion

The present study an inventory of millipedes is the first ofits kind in Alagar hills of Eastern Ghats Also this is thefirst report of the elevational distribution of millipedes inthe Eastern Ghats of Alagar hills Two diversity indices werecalculated Shannonrsquos index (1198671015840) is sensitive to changes in theabundance of rare species in a community whereas Simpsonrsquosindex (120582) is sensitive to changes of the most abundant speciesin a community These two diversity indices showed muchdifference in millipede distribution and diversity Shannonindex assumes that individuals are randomly sampled froman indefinitely large population [25]This index also assumes

Figure 4 Aulacobolus newtoni

Figure 5 Spinotarsus colosseus

650

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

550350 450250

H haydenianaA magnaX carnifex

A newtoniS colosseus

Num

ber

m2

Altitude (m)

Figure 6 Density of different millipede species in the study sites ofAlagar Hills


that all millipedes are represented in the sample Simpsonrsquosindex which gives the probability of two individuals drawnat random from a population belonging to the same speciesincreases with the decrease in diversity Hence it is under-stood thatmidelevation has the highest diversity and low andhighest elevations have the lowest diversity pattern

Brown [26] reported that changes in life on earth aredue to abundance and diversity of organisms along the earthmajor environmental gradients including those of elevation

The significant change of abiotic and biotic environ-mental variables along elevational gradients strongly affectspatterns of abundance distribution and diversity of mostorganisms As emphasized by Brown and Lomolino [27]lower elevational zones usually differ from higher altitudeby the following (1) a greater total amount of resourcesand population number (2) more refugia and space forspecies with large home ranges (3) greater habitat diver-sity and (4) a greater potential for serving as a target forpotential immigrants The abundance of feeding guilds canstrongly depend on habitat structure [28] which changeswith increasing altitude thereby differentially altering theavailable amount of food resources for feeding guilds andthe vegetation structures required for foraging by differentfunctional groups along the elevation gradient [29]

The present study reveals the fact that maximum mil-lipede species diversity in midelevation which confirms tothe midelevational richness in species abundance is recordedfrom Philippines by Samson et al [30] and fromMadagascarby Fisher [31] The higher Shannonrsquos diversity index shownby middle elevation indicates that it provides more opportu-nities for survival in the form of ecological niches than thoselower and higher elevations The lower level of elevation ishighly disturbed due to human activities and cattle grazingThe canopy cover is open which results in nearly dry andbarren land rendering fewer potential niches The boulderswhich are very common have been used only as a shelterfrom extremes of temperature and humidity during summerIn high elevation the closed canopy reduces the sunlightand the under storey vegetation which again results in areduced number of potential niches Besides the high rate oftranspiration by plants and nearby water streams makes theatmosphere very humid and cool This could be the reasonfor moderate evenness and diversity indices shown by theseelevations But the middle elevation with moderate canopyand litters supports understorey vegetation like herbs andshrubs and provides more potential niches and protectionduring periodic flooding This elevation is occupied by allspecies of millipedes in fairly equal proportion and thisexplains the high evenness and diversity indices observed inmidelevation

Cardelus et al [32] emphasized that many species fromlower and higher elevations overlap at midelevation whichgenerally provides the most suitable environment for arthro-pods Sabu et al [14] commented that peak litter ant abun-dance recorded at midelevations in the Wayanad regionsuggests that these are centres of the richest diversity andabundance Rahbek [7] demonstrated that hump-shapedrelationship with maximum species numbers at mideleva-tions Different elevational richness pattern may be due to (a)

an overall decline of species richness with increasing altitude[33] (b) a plateau of species being the richest at lower altitudethen declining towards the highest elevations [34] and (c) amidelevation peak of species richness [35 36] Padmanaban[18] reported that cockroach diversity and abundance werethe maximum in the middle altitudes in comparison withthose in the higher and lower altitudes of Alagar hills reserveforest Isabel [23] also emphasized that arthropod speciesdiversity was higher in midelevations compared to that inlower and higher elevations of Alagar hills

Krebs [37] consolidated six reasons out of the hypothesesproposed for variation in species diversity namely timeavailable for speciation and dispersal spatial heterogeneityvegetation structure competition environmental stabilityand productivity These reasons can be attributed to thevariation in diversity indices between elevations observed inthe present study From the present study it is concludedthat distinct variations in the diversity of millipedes at fivedifferent altitudes and peak diversity of millipedes recordedat midlevel elevations in the Alagar hills suggest that theseare centres of the richest diversity and abundance that shouldbe prioritised as areas for further intense conservation

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the University Grants Commis-sion New Delhi India for providing grants in the form ofMajor Research Project for this research Editorial improve-ments by Cutis C Daehler are gratefully acknowledged

References

[1] P R Ehrlich and A H Ehrlich ldquoThe value of biodiversityrdquoAmbio vol 21 no 3 pp 219ndash226 1992

[2] D Tilman ldquoThe ecological consequences of changes in biodi-versity a search for general principlesrdquo Ecology vol 80 no 5pp 1455ndash1474 1999

[3] A Purvis and A Hector ldquoGetting the measure of biodiversityrdquoNature vol 405 no 6783 pp 212ndash219 2000

[4] K S McCann ldquoThediversity-stability debaterdquoNature vol 405pp 228ndash233 2000

[5] P Jaen-Francois ldquoInteraction between soilfauna and theirenvironmentrdquo Soil Fauna Environment pp 45ndash76 1999

[6] U Irmler ldquoChanges in the fauna and its contribution to massloss and N release during leaf litter decomposition in twodeciduous forestsrdquoPedobiologia vol 44 no 2 pp 105ndash118 2000

[7] C Rahbek ldquoThe elevational gradient of species richness auniform patternrdquo Ecography vol 18 no 2 pp 200ndash205 1995

[8] R Naniwadekar and K Vasudevan ldquoPatterns in diversity ofanurans along an elevational gradient in the Western GhatsSouth Indiardquo Journal of Biogeography vol 34 no 5 pp 842ndash853 2007

[9] R M Shelley ldquoTaxonomy of extant Diplopoda (Millipeds)in the modern era perspectives for future advancements andobservations on the global diplopod community (ArthropodaDiplopoda)rdquo Zootaxa no 1668 pp 343ndash362 2007

[10] P Sierwald and J E Bond ldquoCurrent status of themyriapod classdiplopoda (millipedes) taxonomic diversity and phylogenyrdquoAnnual Review of Entomology vol 52 pp 401ndash420 2007


[11] G Loranger-Merciris D Imbert F Bernhard-Reversat J FPonge and P Lavelle ldquoSoil fauna abundance and diversityin a secondary semi-evergreen forest in Guadeloupe (LesserAntilles) influence of soil type and dominant tree speciesrdquoBiology and Fertility of Soils vol 44 no 2 pp 269ndash276 2007

[12] J Seeber GUH Seeber R Langel S Scheu andEMeyer ldquoTheeffect of macro-invertebrates and plant litter of different qualityon the release of N from litter to plant on alpine pasturelandrdquoBiology and Fertility of Soils vol 44 no 5 pp 783ndash790 2008

[13] R Gadagkar K Chandrasekaran and D M Bhat ldquoAnt speciesrichness and diversity in some selected localities in WesternGhats Indiardquo Hexpoda vol 5 no 2 pp 79ndash94 1993

[14] T K Sabu P J Vineesh and K V Vinod ldquoDiversity of forestlitter-inhabiting ants along elevations in the Wayanad region ofthe Western Ghatsrdquo Journal of Insect Science vol 8 article 692008

[15] H Bharti and Y P Sharma ldquoDiversity and abundance of antsalong an elevational gradient in JammumdashKashmir HimalayardquoHalteres vol 1 pp 10ndash24 2009

[16] M Bubesh Guptha D Chalapathi Rao and D Srinivas ReddyldquoA preliminary observation on butterflies of Seshachalam Bio-sphere Reserve Eastern Ghats Andrapradesh Indiardquo WorldJournal of Zoology vol 7 pp 83ndash89 2012

[17] M B Bonsals ldquoDomiciciary cockroach diversity in EcuadorrdquoEndomologist pp 14431ndash14439 1995

[18] A Padmanaban Distribution population dynamics and biodi-versity of litter dwelling feral cockroaches in Alagar hill reserveforest of Eastern Ghats [PhD thesis] Madurai Kamaraj Univer-sity Madurai India 2002

[19] J Edwin Distribution diversity and population dynamics ofchosen insects in the Courtallam tropical evergreen forest [PhDdissertation]Madurai KamarajUniversityMadurai India 1997

[20] AAnu T K Sabu and P J Vineesh ldquoSeasonality of litter insectsand relationship with rainfall in a wet evergreen forest in southwestern Ghatsrdquo Journal of Insect Science vol 9 article 46 2009

[21] M Sugumaran M Ganesh Kumar and K Ramasamy ldquoBiodi-versity of spiders in Western Ghats of Tamil Nadurdquo Entomonvol 30 pp 157ndash163 2005

[22] H Upamanyu and V P Uniyal ldquoDiversity and compositionof spider assemblages in five vegetation types of the TeraiConservation Area Indiardquo Journal of Arachnology vol 36 no2 pp 251ndash258 2008

[23] W Isabel Litter dynamics and biodiversity of litter Arthro-pod Communities [PhD thesis] Madurai Kamaraj UniversityMadurai India 2002

[24] J A Ludwig and J F Reyonlds Statistical ecology A primer onmethods and computing richness evenness and species diversityJohn Wiley and Sons New York NY USA 1988

[25] C PeilouE Ecological Diversity Wiley Eastern New York NYUSA 1975

[26] J H Brown ldquoMammals on mountainsides elevational patternsof diversityrdquo Global Ecology and Biogeography vol 10 no 1 pp101ndash109 2001

[27] J Brown and M V Lomolino Biogeography Sinauer Sunder-land Mass USA 2nd edition 1998

[28] H Brunner ldquoVogelgemeinschaften an der oberen Waldgrenzeunter dem Einfluss traditioneller und moderner Landnutzungim Nockgebiet (Karnten steiermark) Carinthia Jahrgangrdquo pp533ndash544 2001

[29] J G Blake and B A Loiselle ldquoDiversity of birds along anelevational gradient in the Cordillera Central Costa RicardquoTheAuk vol 117 no 3 pp 663ndash686 2000

[30] D A Samson E A Rickart and P C Gonzales ldquoAnt diversityand abundance along an elevational gradient in the PhilippinesrdquoBiotropica vol 29 no 3 pp 349ndash363 1997

[31] B L Fisher ldquoAnt diversity pattern along an elevational gradientin theReserve Speciale deManongarivoMadagascarrdquoBoissieravol 59 pp 311ndash328 2002

[32] C L Cardelus R K Colwell and J E Watkins ldquoVascularepiphyte distribution patterns explaining the mid-elevationrichness peakrdquo Journal of Ecology vol 94 no 1 pp 144ndash1562006

[33] F Sergio and P Pedrini ldquoBiodiversity gradients in the Alps theoverriding importance of elevationrdquo Biodiversity and Conserva-tion vol 16 no 12 pp 3243ndash3254 2007

[34] S K Herzog M Kessler and K Bach ldquoThe elevational gradientin Andean bird species richness at the local scale a foothill peakand a high-elevation plateaurdquo Ecography vol 28 no 2 pp 209ndash222 2005

[35] M Kessler S K Herzog J Fjeldsa and K Bach ldquoSpeciesrichness and endemism of plant and bird communities alongtwo gradients of elevation humidity and land use in theBolivian Andesrdquo Diversity and Distributions vol 7 no 1-2 pp61ndash77 2001

[36] P F Lee M Kessler and R R Dunn ldquoWhat drives elevationalpatterns of diversity A test of geometric constraints climateand species pool effects for pteridophytes on an elevationalgradient in Costa Ricardquo Global Ecology and Biogeography vol15 no 4 pp 358ndash371 2006

[37] C J Krebs The Experimental Analysis of Distribution andAbundance Harper and Row New York NY USA 1972

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Anatomy Research International

PeptidesInternational Journal of


Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom

International Journal of

Volume 2014

Zoology


Molecular Biology International

GenomicsInternational Journal of


The Scientific World JournalHindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014


BioinformaticsAdvances in

Marine BiologyJournal of



Signal TransductionJournal of


BioMed Research International

Evolutionary BiologyInternational Journal of



Biochemistry Research International

ArchaeaHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014


Genetics Research International


Advances in

Virolog y

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom

Nucleic AcidsJournal of

Volume 2014

Stem CellsInternational



Enzyme Research



Microbiology


and calculate the diversity indices of millipedes species alongan elevation gradient within the Alagar Hills Reserve forestof Eastern Ghats India

2 Materials and Methods

21 StudyArea AlagarHills a biosphere evergreen reserve inTamil Nadu is located in Eastern Ghats (10∘01015840ndash10∘301015840N and75∘551015840ndash78∘201015840 E) 20 km northeast of Madurai city IndiaThevegetation is two layered in which the ground vegetation isvery poor The canopy is open dry deciduous or evergreenvegetation Five locations were selected at different altitudesat Alagar hills (250 350 450 550 and 650m) which werevisited every month from July 2011 to May 2012 The lowestsite was at 250m elevation because that is where millipedesseemed to first occur while 650m is the highest elevationof Alagar hills reserve forest Observation of millipedes wasmade through 6 quadrats (1m times 1m) in each study siteand each sampling date and the mean number of milli-pedesquadrat was calculatedMillipedes were collected fromthe study area by hand picking and species were identified byusing various field guides and available literatures

22 Data Analysis Standard methods were used to calculatethe richness and evenness of millipede species at differentaltitudes The diversity indices were calculated using theLudwig and Reyonlds software package [24] Two indices areneeded to compute Hillrsquos diversity numbers (a) Simpsonrsquosindex and (b) Shannonrsquos indexThesewere calculated by usingthe following formulae

Simpsonrsquos index (120582)

120582 =

119904

sum

119894=1

119899119894(119899119894minus 1)

119899 (119899 minus 1)

(1)

Shannonrsquos index (1198671015840)

1198671015840

=

119904

sum

119894=1

[(

119899119894

119899

) ln(119899119894

119899

)] (2)

3 Results

The following five species of millipedes were identified in thestudy area

(1) Harphaphe haydeniana (Wood 1984) belongs toorder Polydesmida and family Xystodesmidae Hhaydeniana is a yellow spotted millipede and reachesa length of 4-5 cm width of 01 to 03 cm and weightof 08 to 15 g The body is black and is distinctivelymarked along the sides with patches of a yellowishcolour It consists of approximately 15ndash20 body seg-ments bearing a total of 30 (male) or 31 (female) pairsof legs It lives for 2-3 years (Figure 1)

(2) Arthrosphaera magna (Attems 1936) belongs to orderSphaerotheriida and family Sphaerotheriidae Adultshave exactly 13 segments (including collum and anal

Figure 1 Harpaphe haydeniana

segments) and the juveniles are of dark olive greencolour The head of the adult is yellow brown or olivebrown or olive green the second segment is darkbrownwith a black band bordered with yellow colourforming a narrow stripe The average weight lengthand width of an adult millipede range from 45 to125 g from 35 to 65 cm and from 15 to 25 cmrespectively (Figure 2)

(3) Xenobolus carnifex (Fabricius 1775) belongs to orderSpirobolida and family Pachybolidae The body seg-ments are black with a broad median band of darkpink colour Adults have exactly 50 segments andattain an average length of 6 cm and width of 05 cmThe seventh segment in the male is without legs Thesexes are easily distinguishable from the fifth stadiumbased on their length and width Adult males havean average body width of 08 cm and weight of 78 gwhereas the adult female has an average midsegmentwidth of 09 cm and weight of 85 g (Figure 3)

(4) Aulacobolus newtoni (Silvestri 1916) belongs to orderSpirobolida and family Pachybolidae Both sexesexhibit dark greenish yellow colouration and themaximum number of body segments is 50 Adultmales have a width of 08 cm and an average weight of78 g whereas the adult female has an average weightof 85 g and midsegment width of 09 cm The bodylength of both male and female ranges from 80 to95 cm (Figure 4)

(5) Spinotarsus colosseus (Attems 1928) belongs to orderSpirostreptida and familyOdontopygidae Bothmalesand females of S colosseus are of darkblack colourThelength width and weight of the millipede range from65ndash154 cm 03ndash10 cm and 55ndash157 g respectivelyThe number of body segments in adult is 55ndash58(Figure 5)

The maximum number of millipedes (721m2) was observedat 450m and the minimum (251m2) was observed at 650melevation (Figure 6) The density of millipedes decreased inthe order of 350m (393m2) 550m (387m2) and 250m(251m2) elevations Richness indices (119877

1 0607 119877

2 0186)

and Simpsonrsquos index (0207) were found to be lower in themidelevation (450m) than in the other elevations (Table 1)




Richness 1198771

0720 0669 0607 0671 07231198772

0311 0252 0186 0254 0315


Evenness 119864 0955 0970 0981 0969 0924




4 Discussion




650

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

550350 450250



Num

ber

m2

Altitude (m)










Acknowledgments


References














































Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology




Richness 1198771

0720 0669 0607 0671 07231198772

0311 0252 0186 0254 0315


Evenness 119864 0955 0970 0981 0969 0924




4 Discussion




650

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

550350 450250



Num

ber

m2

Altitude (m)










Acknowledgments


References














































Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology









Acknowledgments


References














































Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology




































Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology

Research Article Diversity of Millipedes in Alagar Hills...

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