Symphyla

Taxobox
name = Symphyla

---

image_width = 260px
image_caption = "Scutigerella immaculata"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Myriapoda
classis = Symphyla
classis_authority = Ryder, 1880
subdivision_ranks = Families
subdivision =
Scutigerellidae
Scolopendrellidae

Symphylans, also known as "garden centipedes" or "glasshouse symphylans", are soil-dwelling arthropods of the class Symphyla in the subphylum Myriapoda. Symphylans resemble centipedes, but are smaller and translucent. They can move rapidly through the pores between soil particles, and are typically found from the surface down to a depth of about 50 cm. They consume decaying vegetation, but can do considerable harm in an agricultural setting by consuming seeds, roots, and root hairs in cultivated soil.

Juveniles have six pairs of legs, but, over a lifetime of several years, add an additional pair at each moult so that the adult instar has twelve pairs of legs [cite web |url=http://mint.ippc.orst.edu/symphid.htm |title=Garden Symphylans |publisher=Oregon State University |work=Integrated Pest Management on Peppermint-IPMP3.0 |accessdate=2007-07-02] . Lacking eyes, their long antennae serve as sense organs. They have several features linking them to early insects, such as a labium (fused second maxillae), an identical number of head segments and certain features of their legs cite book |author=C. Gillott |year=2005 |title=Entomology, 3rd Edition |publisher=Springer Verlag |id=ISBN 1-40-203182-3] .

About 200 species are known worldwide cite book |author=A. D. Chapman |title=Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World |publisher=Department of the Environment and Heritage |year=2005 |id=ISBN 0-642-56850-2 |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/publications/other/species-numbers/pubs/number-living-species-report.pdf] .

Description

Symphyla are small, cryptic myriapods without eyes and without pigment [cite web |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/abrs/fauna/details.pl?pstrVol=SYMPHYLA;pstrTaxa=1;pstrChecklistMode=1 |title=Class: Symphyla |work=Australian Faunal Directory |author=Penny Greenslade |date=2002-03-31 |publisher=Australian National University] . The body is soft and 2–10 mm long, divided into two body regions: head and trunk.

The head has long, segmented antennae, a postantennal organ, three pairs of mouthparts: mandibles, the long first maxillae, and the second pair of maxillae which are fused to form the lower lip or labium of the mouth.

The trunk comprises 15–24 segments, which are protected by overlapping dorsal plates. Ten or twelve segments bear legs. The first segment is large and usually provided with a pair of legs, the last segment is slender, lacks legs, and possesses a pair of cerci. Immature individuals have six pairs of legs on hatching.

Symphyla are rapid runners. They are primarily herbivores and detritus feeders living deep in the soil, under stones, in decaying wood, and in other moist places where they feed on the root hairs and rootlets and can sometimes cause crop failure. The garden centipede, "Scutigerella immaculata" can be a serious pest of vegetable crops and tree seedlings and occurs in greenhouses as well as agricultural situations. A species of "Hanseniella" has been recorded as a pest of sugar cane and pineapples in Queensland [cite journal |quotes=no |author=H. Boyle |year=1981 |title=Symphyla control in young plant cane |journal=Cane Growers' Quarterly Bulletin |volume=44 |pages=115–116] [cite journal |quotes=no |author=D. A. H. Murray & D. Smith |year=1983 |title=Effect of Symphyla, "Hanseniella" sp., on establishment of pineappes in south-east Queensland |journal=Queensland Journal of Agricultural Science |volume=40 |pages=121–123] . A few species are found up trees [cite journal |quotes=no |author=J. Adis & U. Scheller |year=1984 |title=On the natural history and ecology of "Hanseniella arborea" (Myriapoda, Symphyla, Scutigerellidae), a migrating symphylan from an Amazonian black-water inundation forest |journal=Pedobiologia |volume=27 |pages=35–41] [cite journal |quotes=no |author=S. Clark & P. Greenslade |year=1996 |title=Review of Tasmanian "Hanseniella" Bagnall (Symphyla: Scutigerellidae) |journal=Invertebrate Taxonomy |volume=10 |pages=189–212 |doi=10.1071/IT9960189] and in caves [cite journal |quotes=no |author=Eberhard, S.M. & Spate |year=1995 |title=Cave Invertebrate Survey; toward an atlas of NSW Cave Fauna |journal=A report prepared under NSW Heritage Assistance Program NEP |volume=94 |pages=765] . A species of "Symphylella" has been shown to be predominantly predatory [cite journal |quotes=no |author=D. E. Walter, J. C. Moore & S. Loring |year=1989 |title="Symphylella" sp. (Symphyla: Scolopendrellidae predators of arthropods and nematodes in grassland soils |journal=Pedobiologia |volume=33 |pages=113–116] , and some species are saprophagous.

References

Further reading

*cite book |author=C. A. Edwards |year=1990 |chapter=Symphyla |pages=891–910 |editor=D. Dindal |title=Soil Biology Guide |publisher=New York: Wiley
*cite journal |quotes=no |author=U. Scheller |year=1961 |title=A review of the Australian Symphyla (Myriapoda) |journal=Australian Journal of Zoology |volume=9 |pages=140–171 |doi=10.1071/ZO9610140
*cite book |author=U. Scheller |year=1982 |chapter=Symphyla |pages=688–689 |editor=S. P. Parker |title=Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms |publisher=New York: McGraw-Hill
*cite journal |quotes=no |author=R. J. Tillyard |year=1930 |title=The evolution of the class Insecta |journal=Pap. R. Soc. Tas. |volume=1930 |pages=1–89