'SipIns'

(Order Polyzoniida, family Siphonotidae)

'SipIns' and siphonotid sp. NW1 both have a dark median band, but 'SipIns' has two dark lateral bands missing in sp. NW1. Both species grow to ca. 15 mm in length.

'SipIns' is surprisingly fast-moving when disturbed. Unlike some other Tasmanian polyzoniidans 'SipIns' is rarely found in groups. It was first collected in 1952.

'SipIns' is one of the millipedes whose distribution abruptly stops at the Mersey Break, a faunal boundary in north central Tasmania (Mesibov 1999). Another peculiarity of its distribution is that it does not seem to co-occur with siphonotid sp. NW1 in the Northwest (compare the two locality maps). 'SipIns' seems to prefer wet forest up to ca. 800 m. It has also been found in eucalypt regrowth arising from clearfall-and-burn silviculture (Mesibov 1997b) and in Pinus radiata plantations (Bonham et al. 2002).

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

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