66 Rowland M. Shelley 



Sicily — Sicily in general (Cavanna 1881, Kraepelin 1903, Wiirmli 

 1975); Ficuzza and Taormina (Attems 1930). 



Sardinia — Sardinia in general (Kraepelin 1903, Attems 1930, Wiirmli 

 1975). 



Italy — South Italy, Cave of Tirreni and Calabria (Attems 1930); 

 Campania Region (Wiirmli 1975, Lewis 1981). 



TAXONOMIC CHARACTERS 



Aside from the segmental spiracles that characterize Plutonium, 

 the taxonomic features in the Plutoniuminae are located primarily on 

 the ultimate legs and segment. The dorsal and ventral surfaces are 

 both important in distinguishing species of Theatops, and the head 

 and first 20 segments hold little taxonomic utility. The massive caudal 

 legs instantly identify the centipede as a plutoniuminine, and if these 

 are lost, Theatops can be confused with the species of Scolopocryptops 

 Newport that exhibit complete paramedian dorsal sutures. In Theatops, 

 tergites 2-20, or every tergite except the first and last, exhibit two 

 such grooves, which lie on both sides of the midline, run the complete 

 length of the plate, and divide it into nearly equal thirds. Three species 

 of Scolopocryptops also demonstrate complete paramedian sutures on 

 all except the anteriormost tergites — S. gracilis Wood in California, 

 occurring sympatrically with T. californiensis; S. rubiginosus L. Koch 

 in the midwest, occurring sympatrically with T. spinicaudus; and S. 

 peregrinator (Crabill) in the northern Appalachians, occurring sympatrically 

 with T. posticus. In these areas, care is needed to avoid misidentifying 

 a cryptopid lacking the caudal legs, or the legs and caudal segment, 

 and confusing Theatops and Scolopocryptops. If such a specimen is 

 found, one should rely on secondary features to distinguish the genera, 

 as listed in Table 1. 



Ultimate segment. Dorsal surface. The ultimate/caudal tergite 

 is noticeably longer than the preceding ones and lacks paramedian 

 sutures. It either lacks sutures altogether, as in most specimens of 

 T. spinicaudus (Figs. 7-9) (occasional specimens have a short sutural 

 remnant anteriad), or has a complete or nearly complete one in the 

 midline, as in the other species (Fig. 6). The suture is complete in 

 T. posticus and T. phanus, running the entire length of the tergite 

 from the anterior to caudal margins; it is rarely complete in T. californiensis 

 and T. erythrocephalus, as it usually disappears just short of the caudal 

 margin. Thus, in the absence of the caudal legs, the presence or absence 

 of the median suture on the ultimate tergite distinguishes T spinicaudus 

 and T. posticus in their areas of overlap in the eastern United States. 

 The latter species was incorrectly illustrated without this suture by Shelley 



