The Milliped Fauna of the Kings Mountain Region 
of North Carolina (Arthropoda: Diplopoda) 
Marianne E. Filka 
Department of Zoology, 
North Carolina State University, 
Raleigh, North Carolina 27607 
AND 
Rowland M. Shelley 
North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, 
P.O. Box 27647 , Raleigh, North Carolina 2761 D 
ABSTRACT. — The millipeds of the Kings Mountain region of Cleve- 
land and Gaston counties, one of five inselberg areas in the Piedmont 
Plateau of North Carolina, were sampled to determine seasonal varia- 
tion in faunal composition. Comparative collections also were made at 
Spencer Mountain, an inselberg located northeast of Gastonia. Of 24 
species taken, only Narceus americanus (Beauvois) and Auturus 
erythropygos (Brandt) were present as adults and juveniles in all three 
sampling seasons. The most diverse assemblage was encountered in Oc- 
tober. Five species were more common in April and October than in 
July, four were more common in July than in either of the cooler 
months, and five others were collected in but a single season (three in 
July, two in October). A more diverse fauna was encountered in the con- 
tiguous Kings-Crowders ridge than at the isolated Spencer Mountain 
outcrop, from which three xystodesmids were conspicuously absent. A 
notable difference between millipeds of the two localities involved color 
pattern of the intergrades of Sigmoria latior (Brolemann). Ptyoiulus was 
the sole genus represented by more than one species, and the overall 
species/genus ratio is indicative of a lowland rather than a montane 
fauna. 
The Kings Mountain region shares eight species with the eastern 
Piedmont and five with the Appalachian Mountains. Seven widespread 
species occur in all three regions, but three species are unique to the 
Kings Mountain region. This area is the northeastern range limit of the 
genus Pachydesmus; and the easternmost populations of four montane 
diplopods, the westernmost population of Ptyoiulus ectenes (Bollman), 
and the southernmost known locality of Cleidogona medialis Shelley, oc- 
cur there. The conservation status of three species of concern to North 
Carolina is discussed, and the Kings Mountain region is considered a 
“cluster area” due to its unique diplopod fauna. The ranges of Boraria 
stricta (Brolemann) and Deltotaria lea Hoffman are extended into South 
Carolina. A key to genera and species is provided along with pertinent 
diagnostic illustrations. 
'Adjunct Assistant Professor of Zoology, North Carolina State University 
1 
Brimleyana No. 4: 1-42. December 1980. 
