Tennessee Cave Millipede
Tetracion tennesseensis Causey, 1959
Taxonomy
| Kingdom | Animalia |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum | Myriapoda |
| Class | Diplopoda |
| Order | Callipodida |
| Family | Abacionidae |
| Genus | Tetracion |
| Species | Tetracion tennesseensis Causey, 1959 |
Description
Diagnostic characters
- Ecological class
- Troglobiont
- Realm
- Terrestrial
- Troglomorphy
- Troglomorphic
Distribution
Type locality
Cumberland Caverns, Warren Co. TN
Range
Known from five counties in Tennessee in the Interior Low Plateau karst region.
Continent
North America
Country
United States
States and provinces
Tennessee
Counties
- Tennessee
- Coffee, Grundy, Van Buren, Warren, White
Karst regions
Interior Low Plateau
Genetics
Molecular resources
| Marker | Molecule | Sequences | Length | Exemplar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COI | mitochondrial | 36 | 545-571 bp | JN656611.1 |
36 sequences, retrieved 23 August 2026. Counts change as sequences are deposited. Search GenBank.
Download all 36 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.
Conservation and management
NatureServe
G2G3 Imperiled to Vulnerable
Global rank last reviewed 21 August 2002.
Subnational ranks
- Tennessee
- S2S3 Imperiled to Vulnerable
Ranks looked up 23 August 2026. Conservation status changes, and a rank here is as current as that date and no more.
State and federal status
Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Other resources
References
- Causey, N.B. 1959. Some cavernicolous millipeds from the Cumberland Plateau. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 34: 229–237.
- Causey, N.B. 1960. Speciation in North American cave millipeds. American Midland Naturalist 64: 116–122.
- Lewis, J.J. 2005a. A biological inventory of caves of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 156 pp.
- Loria, S.F., Zigler, K.S. & Lewis, J.J. 2011. Molecular phylogeography of the troglobiotic millipede Tetracion Hoffman, 1956 (Diplopoda, Callipodida, Abacionidae). International Journal of Myriapodology 5: 35–48.
- Nicholas, G. 1960. Checklist of macroscopic troglobitic organisms of the United States. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 123–160. doi:10.2307/2422897
- Niemiller, M.L. & Zigler, K.S. 2013. Patterns of cave biodiversity and endemism in the Appalachians and Interior Plateau of Tennessee, USA. PLOS One 8: e64177. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064177
- Niemiller, M.L., Zigler, K.S., Hinkle, A., Stephen, C.D.R., Cramphorn, B., Higgs, J., Mann, N., Miller, B.T., Niemiller, K.D.K., Smallwood, K. & Hardy, J. 2023b. The Crystal-Wonder Cave System: a new hotspot of subterranean biodiversity in the southern Cumberland Plateau of south-central Tennessee, USA. Diversity 15: 801. doi:10.3390/d15070801
- Page, G. 2021. Troglofauna of Van Buren and White County: a survey of four caves in the mideastern Cumberland Plateau. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. 18 pp.
This account was last revised 28 August 2026. Conservation ranks were looked up 23 August 2026.
How to cite this account
Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.
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