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For the last 100 years, Biologia Centrali-Americana has been an important source of information for many groups of Mexican and Central American arthropods and remains a keystone for taxonomic work. However, many included names are now out of date. I provide an updated list of names of Chilopoda as cited in Vol. 14 of Biologia Centrali-Americana to use as a complement to that work. The Chilopoda of Biologia Centrali-Americana included 52 names for 51 species and 1 subspecies. Of those, 18 names (35%) were described as new in Pocock´s work. Currently 24 remain as valid names in the same genus, 17 have been transferred to other genera and 11 have been treated as synonyms.
Central America, Checklist, Chilopoda, Mexico, Reginald Innes Pocock, Taxonomy
Biologia Centrali-Americana is one of the greatest works on the natural history of Mexico and Central America. The project, edited by Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin, opened in 1879 with sections on Mammalia, Aves and Botany. The entire work was published between 1879-1915, and contains 215 parts on Zoology, 25 on Botany, and 17 on Archaeology, grouped in 63 volumes and accompanied by numerous plates of figures (
For the last 100 years, Biologia Centrali-Americana has been an important source of information for many groups of Mexican and Central American arthropods (
For many years, the availability of Biologia Centrali-Americana was restricted to larger museums and libraries around the world. Recently, as part of joint efforts by the Natural History Museum in London and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D. C., all contents were made available free on the internet at: http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/bca/ (
The availability of this information facilitates and promotes its use in taxonomic research, especially for those researchers interested in the centipedes. However the names of taxa described or cited in Biologia Centrali-Americana are now a century of more out of date and numerous changes in generic and species concepts have been made during that time (
All scientific names of Chilopoda cited by Pocock in Vol. 14 (1895-1910) of Biologia Centrali-Americana are recorded below in checklist format. The information incorporated in this checklist includes the number of the page where the name is cited in Pocock´s work, as well as the genus and species. The checklist was completed with author and year of each name, current order and family in which the species is placed and the current valid name.
For the assignment of the current valid names for each species, the latest taxonomic scrutiny reference was reviewed. I follow the works of
The Chilopoda of Biologia Centrali-Americana included 52 names for 51 species and 1 subspecies. Of those, 18 names (35%) were described as new in Pocock´s work. Currently 24 remain as valid names in the same genus, 17 have been previously transferred to other genera and 11 have been treated as synonyms.
List of the Chilopoda species described or cited in
Scutigeridae Gervais, 1837
1 Scutigera linceci (Wood, 1867): Dendrothereua linceci (Wood, 1867) (
Pselliodidae Chamberlin, 1921
2 Scutigera nigro-vittata Meinert, 1886: Sphendononema guildingii (Newport, 1845) (
Lithobiidae Newport, 1844
4 Lithobius macroceros Pocock, 1895: Sotimpius macroceros (Pocock, 1895) (
5 Lithobius pontifex Pocock, 1895: Guerrobius pontifex (Pocock, 1895) (
5 Lithobius humberti Pocock, 1895: Guerrobius humberti (Pocock, 1895) (
6 Lithobius godmani Pocock, 1895: Vulcanbius godmani (Pocock, 1895) (
7 Lithobius salvini Pocock, 1895: Vulcanbius salvini (Pocock, 1895) (
8 Lithobius vulcani Pocock, 1895: Vulcanbius vulcani (Pocock, 1895) (
9 Lithobius decodontus Pocock, 1895: Lithobius decodontus Pocock, 1895 (
9 Lithobius stolli Pocock, 1895: Lithobius castaneus Newport, 1844 (
10 Lithobius aztecus Humbert & Saussure, 1869: Neolithobius aztecus (Humbert & Saussure, 1869) (
10 Lithobius mystecus Humbert & Saussure, 1869: Lithobius mystecus Humbert & Saussure, 1869 (
11 Lithobius toltecus Humbert & Saussure, 1869: Lithobius toltecus Humbert & Saussure, 1869 (
12 Lithobius saussurei Stuxberg, 1875: Lithobius saussurei Stuxberg, 1875 (
12 Lithobius mexicanus Perbosc, 1839: Lithobius mexicanus Perbosc, 1839 (
Scolopendridae Newport, 1844
14 Scolopendra morsitans Linnaeus, 1758: Scolopendra morsitans Linnaeus, 1758(
14 Scolopendra subspinipes Leach, 1815: Scolopendra subspinipes Leach, 1815(
14 Scolopendra gigas Leach, 1815: Scolopendra gigantea Linnaeus, 1758(
15 Scolopendra pygmaea Pocock, 1895: Arthrorhabdus pygmaeus(Pocock, 1895) (
15 Scolopendra pomacea C. L. Koch, 1847: Scolopendra pomacea C. L. Koch, 1847(
17 Scolopendra punctiventris Newport, 1844: Hemiscolopendra marginata (Say, 1821) (
18 Scolopendra tenuitarsis Pocock, 1895: Scolopendra viridis Say, 1821(
18 Scolopendra heros Girard, 1853: Scolopendra heros Girard, 1853 (
19 Scolopendra copeana Wood, 1862: Scolopendra polymorpha Wood, 1861 (
20 Scolopendra copeana gaumeri Pocock, 1895: Scolopendra polymorpha Wood, 1861 (
20 Scolopendra sumichrasti Saussure, 1860: Scolopendra sumichrastiSaussure, 1860 (
21 Scolopendra viridis Say, 1821: Scolopendra viridis Say, 1821(
23 Scolopendra pachygnatha Pocock, 1895: Scolopendra pachygnatha Pocock, 1895 (
24 Scolopendra occidentalis Meinert, 1886: Scolopendra viridis maya Saussure, 1860(
24 Scolopendra nicaraguensis Bollman, 1893: Scolopendra viridis Say, 1821(
24 Cormocephalus aurantiipes (Newport, 1844): Cormocephalus aurantiipes (Newport, 1844) (
25 Parotostigmus denticulatus Pocock, 1896: Otostigmus (Parotostigmus) denticulatus Pocock, 1896 (
26 Rhysida immarginata (Porat, 1876): Rhysida immarginata (Porat, 1876) (
27 Rhysida celeris (Humbert & Saussure, 1870): Rhysida celeris (Humbert & Saussure, 1870) (
27 Rhysida longipes (Newport, 1845): Rhysida longipes (Newport, 1845) (
Plutoniumidae Bollman, 1893 (
28 Theatops spinicauda Wood, 1862: Theatops spinicaudus Wood, 1862 (
Scolopocryptopidae Pocock, 1896
29 Otocryptops ferrugineus Pocock, 1893: Scolopocryptops ferrugineus Linnaeus, 1767 (
29 Otocryptops melanostoma Pocock, 1893: Scolopocryptops melanostoma (Newport, 1845) (
30 Scolopendrides mexicanus Saussure, 1858: Newportia mexicana (Saussure, 1858) (
31 Scolopendrides stolli Pocock, 1896: Newportia stolli (Pocock, 1896) (
32 Newportia azteca Humbert & Saussure, 1869: Newportia azteca Humbert & Saussure, 1869 (
33 Newportia spinipes Pocock, 1896: Newportia spinipes Pocock, 1896 (
34 Newportia rogersi Pocock, 1896: Newportia monticola Pocock, 1890 (
Geophilidae Cook, 1895
36 Geophilus aztecusHumbert & Saussure, 1869: Geophilus aztecus Humbert & Saussure, 1869 (
37 Geophilus toltecusHumbert & Saussure, 1869: Polycricus toltecus (Humbert & Saussure, 1869) (
37 Geophilus godmaniPocock, 1896: Polycricus godmani (Pocock, 1896) (
38 Geophilus salviniPocock, 1896: Pachymerium salvini (Pocock, 1896) (
38 Geophilus stolliPocock, 1896: Polycricus stolli (Pocock, 1896) (
39 Chomatophilus smithi Pocock, 1896: Chomatophilus smithi Pocock, 1896 (
Himantariidae Cook, 1895
40 Chomatobius mexicanus (Saussure, 1860): Chomatobius mexicanus (Saussure, 1860) (
Oryidae Cook, 1896
40 Orphnaeus brevilabiatus (Newport, 1895): Orphnaeus brevilabiatus (Newport, 1895)(
40 Notiphilides maximiliani Humbert & Saussure, 1870: Notiphilides maximiliani Humbert & Saussure, 1870 (
I am grateful to Dr. Greg Edgecombe by the revision of the previous version of the manuscript. Valuable comments by two anonymous reviewers helped improve the quality of the paper.