Scolopendra subspinipes, Leach, 1815: 383

Shelley, Rowland M., 2006, A chronological catalog of the New World species of Scolopendra L., 1758 (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae), Zootaxa 1253 (1), pp. 1-50 : 7

subspinipes Leach, 1815:383 .

Type specimen: not known to exist, not present at the BMNH; Shelley (2002) deferred neotype designation to a detailed study of the species;

type locality: unknown. Original rank: full species. Current rank and status: valid species.

Anatomical illustrations: Attems (1930, fig. 43), Shelley (2002, figs. 50–56), Lewis (2004, figs. 8–13, as Otostigmus puncticeps Attems, 1853 , and figs. 14–17, as O. politoides Attems, 1853 ).

Distribution : Scolopendra subspinipes appears to be native to southeast Asia ( Lewis , in litt.), and its occurrence in the New World undoubtedly reflects human introductions as does that in the Hawaiian archipelago ( Shelley 2000). It is now established on Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, the Grenadines ( Bequia ), Jamaica, Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Barthélemy, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, & the U. S. Virgin Islands ( St. Croix ) ( Porat 1876, Chamberlin 1920, Shelley 2002). On the continental land mass, S. subspinipes is known from Panama ( Former Canal Zone ), Surinam, & Brazil ( Porat 1876, Brölemann 1901, 1909; Kraepelin 1903; Attems 1930; Jeekel 1952; Bücherl 1939, 1942 a; Shelley 2002). It is not established in the continental US, where it has been intercepted in quarantines in California, the District of Columbia, Florida , Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, & Texas. Maps : none.

Remarks : Kraepelin (1903) and Attems (1930) recognized seven subspecies based in part on the number and arrangement of ventral prefemoral spines on the ultimate legs, but Shelley (2000, 2002) declined to recognize races because their validities as true geographic entities, as opposed to simple variants, had never been unequivocally established.