'AcuMes'

(Order Polyzoniida, family Siphonotidae)

'AcuMes' has the most legs of any Tasmanian multipede, up to ca. 150 pairs in older females ca. 30 mm long. Most individuals have dark brown, nearly black lateral bands, but in some populations the lateral bands are a light chestnut brown. The first known specimens date from the 1930s.

Image of a live 'AcuMes' from Hills Road, Franklin by Geoff Fenton, used with permission.

This species seems to prefer wet forest. It is widely distributed in Tasmania up to ca. 1150 m elevation, although it has not yet been found on the central East Coast. Dense aggregations of 'AcuMes' are sometimes discovered in accumulations of leaf litter (Mesibov et al. 1995), in rotting stumps and under bark on standing trees. On Blue Tier I found a female brooding ca. 150 eggs.

'AcuMes' has been collected in eucalypt regrowth arising from clearfall-and-burn silviculture (Mesibov 1997b).

Localities for 'AcuMes'. Scale bar = 100 km.

More information:
 
Distribution, conservation and general - Mesibov et al. (1995), Mesibov (1997b), Mesibov (1999), Bonham et al. (2002)