Common Cordus

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Common Cordus
Common corduroy (Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus)

Common corduroy (Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus)

Systematics
Millipede (Myriapoda)
Class : Double-pod (Diplopoda)
Order : Julida
Family : Julidae
Genre : Cylindroiulus
Type : Common Cordus
Scientific name
Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus
Wood , 1864

The common corduroy ( Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus ) is a European species of millipede . It lives all over Europe and is common in Germany, in the far north (Scandinavia) it does not occur. It was introduced to the USA and Canada. Invasive mass reproductions occasionally occur more frequently than in the sand cord pus (Ommatoiulus sabiosus) and the black cord pus (Tachypodoiulus niger).

description

The animal has a cylindrical, glossy black body with about twenty to fifty distinct trunk segments that have lighter, white-yellowish pairs of legs. The Cylindroiulus belongs to those bipeds that have defensive glands . Their exits are in or in front of the seam between the front ( prozonite ) and rear ( metazonite ) section of each trunk segment. The foul-smelling and poisonous secretion causes disgust and, if the diplopods are improperly removed mechanically, leaves brown stains that are difficult to remove.

The Prozonites are rather smooth, the Metazonites deeply longitudinally furrowed. The males are 19 to 32 mm long and 1.6 to 2.6 mm wide, the females are 18 to 37 mm long and 2 to 3.2 mm wide. Like other millipedes, the common corduroy curls up in a spiral when threatened. The centipedes Lithobius variegatus and the common stone runner ( Lithobius forficatus ) belong to the predators of the corduroy .

Habitat and way of life

The common Feldschnurfüßer is a stenoecious and stenohydre type, that is, it makes certain demands on a moist habitat with a preference for free, unbewaldetes terrain. It is often found at the edges of fields, on rubble sites, cemeteries and in gardens under stones. It prefers heavy alkaline soils ( pH 7.2–9.2), but also occurs on acidic soils (secondary spruce cultures) with a higher pH value in the deeper layers of the earth.

The cordwort can live for several years and is active from spring to autumn. In summer it usually retreats into deeper layers of the earth, in winter to a depth of over 50 cm. He performs vertical movements in a daily rhythm. The nocturnal action radius is 1 to 2 m. Mating takes place from March to June and September to November. The females of some types of diplopods are capable of parthenogenesis (virgin generation) and long-term storage of sperm. In bad times, the males regress their sexual organs and become “ intercalary males ”, in which the gonopods (the pair of legs that have been converted into copulation apparatus) of the mature males revert to a juvenile state after moulting again. Sexually mature males emerge only after another molt. From the eggs laid in spring, young animals develop in the first year that overwinter. It is not until the age of two that individuals become sexually mature.

nutrition

The main food consists of ground leaves and detritus (especially linden, ash, elm and alder), but grass and moss are also eaten. Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus also ingests large amounts of soil with its food. As a soil turner, the corduroy is more of a beneficial insect, but it sometimes occurs in large numbers, so that it can then be described as a nuisance .

Mass reproduction

The mass reproduction of the common corduroy that occurs in some years has not yet been clarified. According to Decker, it takes place in hot and dry summers, when the corduroy acts as a pest on potatoes and mulberries. The mass invasions were investigated in East Germany by Karin Voigtländer, in Poland by Grzegorz Kania and Henry Tracz and in Vorarlberg (Austria) by Klaus Zimmermann and others

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Klaus Zimmermann: The Invasion of the Schnurfüsser. Inatura.at, accessed on September 1, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Peter Decker: Common Schnurfüßer - Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus (WOOD, 1864). Nature in NRW, accessed on September 1, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Ulrich Haacker: Daily rhythmic vertical movement in millipedes (Myriapoda, Diplopoda). In: The natural sciences. Volume 54, No. 13, 1967, pp. 346-347, ISSN  0028-1042 .
  4. ↑ J. Gordon Blower: Millipedes. Keys and notes for the identification of the species. In: Synopses of the British Fauna. Volume 35, Backhuys Publishers, 1985, ISBN 9004076980 , pp. 1-242
  5. ↑ B. Nascimento, H. Sermann and C. Büttner: On the occurrence and development of Spinotarsus caboverdus PIERRARD (1987) (Diplopoda: Odontopygidae) on Cape Verde. In: Plant Protection Reports. Volume 61, Issue 2, 2005, ISSN  0031-675X
  6. ↑ Karin Voigtländer: Mass occurrences and swarming behavior of millipedes (Diplopoda: Julidae) in Eastern Germany. In: Peckiana. Volume 4, 2005, pp. 181-187, ISSN  1618-1735
  7. ↑ Mass occurrence and migration of Ommatoiulus sabulosus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Diplopoda, Julida: Julidae) in Poland. In: Wayback Machine. Senckenberg.de, archived from the original ; accessed on October 29, 2019 .
  8. ↑ T. Mucha-Pelzer, K. Zimmermann, N. Gorbach, Ch. Ulrichs: Final report 2008 - Control of the millipede Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus (Wood) in Röns (Vorarlberg, Austria). In: T. Mucha-Pelzer: Amorphous silicates - possibilities of use in horticulture for physical pest control. Dissertation at the Humboldt University in Berlin 2010, Berlin ecophysiological and phytomedical writings, Volume 17, Der Andere Verlag, Tönning, Lübeck and Marburg. Pp. 106-113.
  9. ↑ Klaus Zimmermann: Röns: St. Magnus and the millipedes. In: Naturmonographie Jagdberggemeinden. inatura - Erlebnis Naturschau, Dornbirn, 2013, pp. 371–386. Available as pdf on the Internet [1]

literature

  • J. Gordon Blower: Millipedes. Keys and notes for the identification of the species. In: Synopses of the British Fauna. Volume 35, Backhuys Publishers, 1985, ISBN 9004076980 , pp. 1-242
  • W. Dunger: Methods for the comparative evaluation of feeding experiments in soil biology. In: Treatises and reports from the Natural History Museum in Görlitz. Volume 37, No. 2, 1962, pp. 143-162.
  • U. Haacker: Descriptive, experimental and comparative studies on the autecology of Rhine-Mainischer Diplopoden. In: Oecologia. Volume 1, 1968, pp. 87-129.
  • O. Schubart: Millipede or Myriapoda. I: Diplopoda. In: F. Dahl: The animal world of Germany and the adjacent parts of the sea. Volume 28, 1934, pp. 1-318.

Web links

Commons : Common Corduroy ( Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files