by Piter Kehoma Boll
We reached one more moment in which things get a little disheartening because it is time to talk about another group of neglected organisms, the pauropods. These very small arthropods measure only a few milimeters in length and belong to the subphylum Myriapoda, being related to the most popular centipedes and milipedes.
I was unable to have easy access to good information of any species, so I decided to talk about the only one of which I found a good photograph and that was determined to the species level, Eurypauropus japonicus, which I decided to call the Japanese pauropod.
The Japanese pauropod measures less than 2 mm in length, usually between 1.5 and 1.7 mm. The adults have a pair of antennae and nine pairs of legs, one in each segment behind the head, except for the last (one, or two?) segment. The dorsal side is covered by five heavily sclerotized plates, which gives the impression that they have fewer segments.
Like all pauropods, the Japanese pauropod avoids light, living in dark humid places in the forest soil, often inside and below rotten wood. Pauropods in general are not found in large densities, and I think the same applies to the Japanese pauropod. Its diet is unknow, but it most likely feeds on fungi and, perhaps, live or decaying plant matter as well.
Details about its reproduction are unknown as well. Based on information of other pauropods, mating probably occurs with the males depositing a spermatophore (a sperm-filled sac) on the substrate, which is then collected by the female to fertilize her eggs. Newly hatched pauropods have only three pairs of legs, but this number increased at every mold until reaching, in the Japanese pauropod, the maximum of nine pairs.
The pauropods are one more group of organisms that, because of their lack of cuteness and “beauty”, do not attract the attention of the general public, and this is also reflected in the lack of interest in studying them by biologists in general. How can we change that?
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References:
HAGINO, Y., & SCHELLER, U. (1985). A new species of the genus Eurypauropus (Pauropoda: Eurypauropodidae) from central Japan. Proceedings of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology (Vol. 31, pp. 38-43). The Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology.
Wikipedia. Pauropoda. Available at < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauropoda >. Access on 14 October 2021.
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