# Dicellophilus carniolensis

Dicellophilus carniolensis is a species of soil centipede in the family Mecistocephalidae. This centipede is well known and found in central Europe. This species features 43 pairs of legs, a number rarely found in the family Mecistocephalidae and recorded in only one other genus in this family: In the genus Tygarrup, an undescribed species found in the Andaman Islands also has 43 leg pairs.

## Distribution

This species has been recorded in hundreds of locations in mountainous regions and adjacent areas in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In particular, this species has been found in the central and eastern Alps, the Dinarides, the Western, Eastern, and Southern Carpathians, and the Dobrogea region. On occasion, introduced specimens have also been recorded in Great Britain.

## Taxonomy

The German zoologist Carl L. Koch first described this species in 1847 based on type material found in Carniola in Slovenia. Koch originally described this species under the name Clinopodes carniolensis. The Italian zoologist Filippo Silvestri assigned this species to the genus Dicellophilus in 1919, and authorities have followed this assignment universally since the 1960s.
In 1880, the Hungarian zoologist Ödön Tömösváry described Mecistocephalus hungaricus as a new species. Since 1889, however, authorities have deemed M. hungaricus to be a junior synonym of D. cariolensis and have considered these centipedes to be the same species. Similarly, in 1886, the Danish zoologist Frederik Meinert described Geophilus austriacus as a new species, and in 1898, the German zoologist Karl W. Verhoeff described Geophilus apfelbecki as a new species, with Geophilus apfelbecki diversiporus as a subspecies. Since 1901, however, authorities have deemed G. austriacus, G. apfelbecki, and G. apfelbecki diversiporus to be junior synonyms of D. cariolensis and have considered all these centipedes to be the same species.

## Description

The species D. carniolensis has 43 leg pairs and can reach 60 mm in length. Although no other species in the genus Dicellophilus shares this number of leg pairs, D. carniolensis does share some distinctive features with the other members of this genus. For example, each of these species features a labrum with longitudinal folds. Furthermore, in all of these species, each of the ultimate legs features not only a ventral pore that is distinctly larger than all the other pores but also an apical tubercle with a few small spines.
Other features, however, distinguish this species from all the other members of this genus. For example, in the other species, the terminal article of the antennae is elongate, with a length/width ratio ranging from 2.2 to 2.4, whereas in D. carniolensis, this ratio ranges from 1.7 to 2.0. Furthermore, in all the other species, the distal part of the medial projection from the first maxillae is evidently enlarged and subtriangular, but in D. carniolensis, this part is only slightly enlarged and not subtriangular. A phylogenetic analysis of the genus Dicellophilus based on morphology places D. carniolensis by itself on the most basal branch in a phylogenetic tree, with a sister group formed by all the other species in the genus in their own separate clade.