Tuoba laticeps (Pocock, 1891)

(Order Geophilomorpha, family Geophilidae)

These strictly coastal centipedes have 43-59 leg-pairs and grow to ca. 30 mm long. Note that the head is smaller in proportion to the body than in Tasmanophilus or Zelanion. Tuoba can be found under stones and in seaweed wrack at, or just below the high tide mark, and are sometimes seen walking on sandy beaches. A number of littoral geophilomorphs have been described from Australia and neighbouring countries, but the only known Tasmanian species is T. laticeps. Hundreds of geophilomorphs (probably T. laticeps) were collected from beaches all around Tasmania in a recent pitfall study of strandline fauna (Richardson et al. 1997, 1998).

Top:  Head, ventral view.
Bottom left:  Head, dorsal view.
Bottom right:  Last segments, ventral view.

The rather confused taxonomic history of this species begins and ends with English zoologists. Geophilus laticeps was collected on King Island by the English-born Arthur Dendy more than a century ago. It was sent to London, where Reginald Pocock described and named it; the holotype is kept in the British Museum. Many more specimens were collected by John Lewis (Taunton, Somerset), who visited Tasmania in 1995. T. laticeps was then redescribed and reclassified by Dick Jones (King's Lynn, Norfolk).

Localities for T. laticeps. The type locality (not shown) is somewhere on King Island. Scale bar = 100 km.
For an interactive map with more up-to-date localities, go to the mapper page.

More information:
 
Taxonomy - Jones (1998)

Drawings after Jones (1998).