American Giant Millipede
Narceus americanus (Palisot de Beauvouis, 1817)
Taxonomy
| Kingdom | Animalia |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum | Myriapoda |
| Class | Diplopoda |
| Order | Spirobolida |
| Family | Spirobolidae |
| Genus | Narceus |
| Species | Narceus americanus (Palisot de Beauvouis, 1817) |
Description
Diagnostic characters
- Ecological class
- Trogloxene
- Realm
- Terrestrial
Distribution
Range
Known from seven counties across three states.
Continent
North America
Country
United States
States and provinces
Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee
Counties
- Alabama
- Blount, Jackson, Marshall
- Arkansas
- Independence
- Tennessee
- Fentress, Franklin, Marion
Conservation and management
NatureServe
G5 Secure
National ranks
- Canada
- N5 Secure
- United States
- NNR
Subnational ranks
- Ontario
- S5 Secure
- Oklahoma
- SNR Unranked
- Virginia
- S5 Secure
- Missouri
- SNR Unranked
- South Carolina
- SNR Unranked
State and federal status
Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act
References
- Godwin, J.C. 2008. Biological inventory of the cave and karst systems of The Nature Conservancy's Sharp-Bingham Mountain Preserve. Alabama Natural Heritage Program, Auburn, Alabama, USA. 40 pp.
- Lewis, J.J. 2005. A biological inventory of caves of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 156 pp.
- Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2005. Inventory of the subterranean fauna of Tims Ford State Park, Franklin County, Tennessee. Tennesee Natural Heritage Program, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 28 pp.
- Loomis, H.F. 1939. The millipeds collected in Appalachian caves by Mr. Kenneth Dearolf. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 86: 165–193. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2775893.
- McDaniel, V.R. & Smith, K.L. 1976. Cave fauna of Arkansas: selected invertebrate taxa. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science 30: 57–60. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol30/iss1/22.
- Peck, S.B. 1988. A review of the cave fauna of Canada, and the composition and ecology of the invertebrate fauna of caves and mines in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66: 1197–1213. doi:10.1139/z88-176
- Peck, S.B. 1989. The cave fauna of Alabama. Part I. The terrestrial invertebrates (excluding insects). National Speleological Society Bulletin 51: 11–33.
How to cite this account
Narceus americanus (Palisot de Beauvouis, 1817). Cave Biology Data Portal, account SP-2697. https://cavebiology.org/species/narceus-americanus/ (accessed 7 September 2026).
Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.
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