Pentazonia

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Pentazonia
Glomeris marginata, female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Myriapoda
Class: Diplopoda
Subclass: Chilognatha
Infraclass: Pentazonia
Brandt, 1833
Superorders
Synonyms

Opisthandria Verhoeff, 1894

Pentazonia is a taxonomic infraclass of millipedes containing the pill-millipedes (Oniscomorpha) which can roll into a ball and the order Glomeridesmida which cannot. Defining traits (apomorphies) include divided sternites, a labrum with single median tooth, and an enlarged pygidium on the hind-most body segment.[1] Pentazonia is in the dominant millipede subclass Chilognatha which have a calcified exoskeleton and modified sperm-transferring legs in males. In contrast to the Helminthomorpha – the other Chilognathan infraclass, the sperm-transferring legs are located on posterior body segments and known as telopods. Pentazonians are relatively short-bodied, with between 13 and 21 body segments.[2] The Pentazonia contains one extinct order, Amynilyspedida, often referred to the Oniscomorpha.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Putative apomorphies of millipede clades" (PDF). Milli-PEET: Millipede Systematics. The Field Museum, Chicago, IL. 26 September 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  2. ^ Enghoff, Henrik (1990). "The Ground Plan of Chilognathan Millipedes (External Morphology)". In Minelli, Alessandro (ed.). Proceedings of the 7th International Congress of Myriapodology. Leiden, the Netherlands: E.J. Brill. pp. 1–22. ISBN 9789004089723.
  3. ^ Hannibal, Joseph T; Feldmann, Rodney M. (1981). "Systematics and Functional Morphology of Oniscomorph Millipedes (Arthropoda: Diplopoda) from the Carboniferous of North America". Journal of Paleontology. 55 (4): 730–746.