Premium
The post‐embryonic development and life history of the millipede, Ommatoiulus moreletii (Diplopoda: Iulidae), introduced in south‐eastern Australia
Author(s) -
Baker G. H.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0952-8369
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1978.tb03366.x
Subject(s) - biology , moulting , millipede , ecology , zoology , larva
The life cycle of Ommatoiulus moreletii consists of an egg, pupoid and up to sixteen stadia. Sexes are differentiated at the sixth stadium. Males may mature at any moult from the eighth to the twelfth stadia, but most are mature by the tenth or eleventh. Maturation is more difficult to determine in females but seems similar to the males with respect to stadial age. O. moreletii is periodomorphic. Field studies were made of O. moreletii in an open grassland and a dry sclerophyllous woodland in South Australia. Females matured their eggs in late summer‐autumn. They mated and oviposited during autumn‐winter. After one year, O. moreletii was in the seventh, eighth or ninth stadium. After two years, the tenth or eleventh stadia were reached and after three years the twelfth or thirteenth. The moulting of individuals older than about one year was confined to moults in (1) spring and (2) summer. Adult males were mature from summer to spring and intercalary from spring to summer.