Summary
Pentazonia is a taxonomic infraclass of millipedes containing the pill-millipedes (Oniscomorpha) which can roll into a ball and the order Glomeridesmida which cannot. Defining traits (apomorphies) include divided sternites, a labrum with single median tooth, and an enlarged pygidium on the hind-most body segment.[1] Pentazonia is in the dominant millipede subclass Chilognatha which have a calcified exoskeleton and modified sperm-transferring legs in males. In contrast to the Helminthomorpha – the other Chilognathan infraclass, the sperm-transferring legs are located on posterior body segments and known as telopods. Pentazonians are relatively short-bodied, with between 13 and 21 body segments.[2] The Pentazonia contains one extinct order, Amynilyspedida, often referred to the Oniscomorpha.[3]
| Pentazonia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Glomeris marginata, female | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Myriapoda |
| Class: | Diplopoda |
| Subclass: | Chilognatha |
| Infraclass: | Pentazonia Brandt, 1833 |
| Superorders | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Opisthandria Verhoeff, 1894 | |
References edit
- ^ "Putative apomorphies of millipede clades" (PDF). Milli-PEET: Millipede Systematics. The Field Museum, Chicago, IL. 26 September 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
- ^ Enghoff, Henrik (1990). "The Ground Plan of Chilognathan Millipedes (External Morphology)". In Minelli, Alessandro (ed.). Proceedings of the 7th International Congress of Myriapodology. Leiden, the Netherlands: E.J. Brill. pp. 1–22. ISBN 9789004089723.
- ^ Hannibal, Joseph T; Feldmann, Rodney M. (1981). "Systematics and Functional Morphology of Oniscomorph Millipedes (Arthropoda: Diplopoda) from the Carboniferous of North America". Journal of Paleontology. 55 (4): 730–746.