image: The atlas is full of beautiful photos, like this one of the species Stosatea italica (Latzel, 1886). view more
Credit: Steen Dupont
The first in a series of three books which will, for the first time ever, show the distribution of Europe's more than 1500 species of millipedes.
The present volume includes 492 species, including the tiny, beautiful pincushion millipedes, the colourful pill-millipedes and the flat-backed millipedes. The millipede atlas is the result of many years of meticulous accumulation of records provided by a large number of contributors from all over Europe, interpretation of label data from collections, and scrutiny of old literature. The atlas builds on the taxonomic backbone provided by the Fauna Europaea project which provides information on names, synonyms and distribution by country or region of non-marine European animals.
It is hoped that this atlas will both stimulate and be a foundation for further studies. In several European countries the distribution and often the ecological requirements of millipedes are quite well understood but in many regions the information is fragmentary, the maps revealing where much remains to be done. There are undoubtedly many more species to discover. As a result of the work already undertaken it has become apparent that millipedes are very good bioindicators, being slow-moving and having particular habitat requirements which are helpful in biogeographical and evolutionary studies.
Published by Pensoft Publishers. More details at: http://www.pensoft.net/book/12479/atlas-of-european-millipedes-class-diplopoda-vol-1