Chordeumatida
Chordeumatida (from the Greek word for "sausage") is a large order of millipedes containing some 1200 species with a nearly worldwide distribution. Also known as sausage millipedes, they grow and develop through a series of moults, adding segments until they reach a fixed number in the adult stage, which is usually the same for a given sex in a given species, at which point the moulting and the addition of segments and legs stop. This mode of development, known as teloanamorphosis, distinguishes this order from most other orders of millipedes, which usually continue to moult as adults, developing through either euanamorphosis or hemianamorphosis.
Chordeumatida | |
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Two unidentified species from New Zealand | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Subphylum: | Myriapoda |
Class: | Diplopoda |
Subterclass: | Eugnatha |
Superorder: | Nematophora |
Order: | Chordeumatida Pocock, 1894 |
Suborders | |
Chordeumatidea | |
Diversity | |
c. 50 families, 1200 species | |
Synonyms | |
Ascospermophora Verhoeff, 1900 |