Cylindroiulus spp.

(Order Julida, family Julidae)

The two Cylindroiulus species so far recognised in Tasmania resemble some of the smaller spirostreptidans, but can be distinguished from native juliforms (as shown in the juliform key) by inspection of ozopore position.

C. brittanicus (Verhoeff, 1891) [left image] is widespread in northwest Europe and has been introduced to North America, New Zealand and South Africa (Blower 1985). The very similar C. latestriatus (Curtis, 1845) [right image, with arrow indicating extended gonopods] is also apparently a native of northwest Europe but now occurs widely in the temperate world. In Tasmania both species appear to be invading bushland in the north, west and centre of the State. They co-occur in a number of places, including Pumphouse Point at Lake St Clair. In my experience they are more likely to be found in bush on the edge of towns than in gardens and other Europeanised habitats, and I expect Cylindroiulus spp. to become much more widespread in undisturbed parts of Tasmania in future.

The two Cylindroiulus species grow to about 16 mm in length and are generally light gray or light brown in body colour. It is impossible to distinguish the two species without dissecting out the gonopods of mature males and examining these structures under higher magnification. For gonopod illustrations see Blower (1985).

Localities for C. brittanicus (red), C. latestriatus (blue) and unidentified Cylindroiulus spp. (gray). Scale bar = 100 km.
For an interactive map with more up-to-date localities, go to the mapper page.

More information:
 
Biology - Blower (1985), Hopkin & Read (1992)
Distribution, conservation and general - Mesibov (1993a), Taylor et al. (1997), Mesibov (1999)