The Zoogeography and Phylogenetic Relationships of Three Genera of Australian Scolopendrid Centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendridae)

Abstract

Phylogenetic relationships of the Australian species of the genera Scolopendra, Cormocephalus and Ethmostigmus are considered on the basis of morphological characters. A simple assessment involving the plesiomorphy of three outstanding characters is followed by numerical phenetic and cladistic analyses performed on 31 characters of the 25 scolopendrid species and a cryptopid for outgroup comparison. The species cluster in accordance with the current generic groupings. The robust groups and subgroups that are obtained are discussed in terms of thegeographic distributions of the species and their derivation from probable ancestral groups,