Rowland M. Shelley 



several new localities for this species and for T. spinicaudus. 



In the 1890's, Bollman (1893) established the Plutoniinae and 

 attempted the first general range descriptions for T. posticus and T. 

 spinicauda, 6 cited in the ensuing listings. He recorded the latter from 

 the southwestern United States in general, a citation not justified by 

 any collection or previous records and the probable source for future 

 erroneous listings from California and the southwest (Chamberlin 1902, 

 Crabill 1960). Verhoeff (1896) proposed O. lusitanum for a centipede 

 from Portugal and attempted to contrast it with O. erythrocephalus. 



The twentieth century began with the proposal of T. californiensis 

 for a form from Quincy, Plumas County, California, by Chamberlin 

 (1902). He also summarized the synonymies and distributions of T. 

 posticus and T. spinicaudus, largely repeating the ranges reported by 

 Bollman (1893), and provided a key to the then three American species. 

 Kraepelin (1903) assigned Chamberlin's species to synonymy under 

 T. erythrocephalus and recorded it from Oregon and California; he 

 also provided a key to T. posticus, T. spinicaudus, and T. erythrocephalus, 

 along with synoptic accounts to these species, P. zwierleini, and the 

 genera Theatops and Plutonium. Other new synonymies proposed by 

 Kraepelin (1903) include O. insulare under T. spinicaudus and O. 

 lusitanum under T. erythrocephalus, the last binomial being a new 

 combination. His and subsequent listings of T. erythrocephalus from 

 Italy are erroneous and refer instead to P. zwierleini (Minelli, in litt.), 

 and one also wonders about the source for Kraepelin's record from 

 Oregon. Theatops californiensis had only been described the previous 

 year, and Quincy, the only locality Chamberlin (1902) listed, is too 

 distant from Oregon (ca. 224 km [140 mi]) to imply occurrence in 

 that state. I know of no pre-1903 Oregon specimens, and if geographic 

 proximity were the basis for Kraepelin's citation, one would expect 

 him to choose Nevada, since Quincy is only about 80 km (50 mi) 

 from this state. The basis for the sudden Oregon citation is thus a 

 mystery, but it is nevertheless correct as shown by recent samples 

 from Douglas and Josephine counties. Three years later, Verhoeff (1906) 

 proposed the family "Theatopsidae." 



In ensuing decades, Chamberlin (1911) reduced his species to a 

 race of T. erythrocephalus. Gunthorp (1920) reviewed Wood's papers 

 and authorships, and credited him with Opisthemega, O. postica, and 



6 Bollman's inconsistencies are noteworthy. He (1888a, c) cited spinicaudus, suddenly 

 changing (1893) without explanation to the feminine termination. However, he simulta- 

 neously and consistently employed the masculine suffix for posticus (1888c-e, 1893), 

 but he suddenly and without explanation cited it (1893) under both Cryptops and Theatops, 

 whereas he previously (1888c-e) used only the latter genus. 



