Kings Mountain Milliped Fauna 
23 
(Say), both of which occur in the eastern Piedmont (Shelley 1978), were 
encountered during this study. This species has been previously reported 
from Rutherford, Wilkes and Alexander counties in the western Pied- 
mont, as well as the mountains and eastern Piedmont (Shelley 1978), so 
its occurrence in the Kings Mountain region was expected. Juveniles and 
adults were collected in April and October, but none were found in July. 
Adults were dull reddish brown with light brown paranoia, similar to 
Richmond County specimens (Shelley 1978). Material from the two areas 
was also similar in length. 
Past discussion of gonopodal variation in the Polydesmidae has been 
hampered by the absence of a standardized nomenclature for the spines, 
branches, and other projections of the posterior faces of the telopodites. 
Hoffman (1974) devised a labeling system based upon orientation of 
these processes, with letters “m” and “e” designating mesial and ectal 
position, respectively, and numbers indicating position relative to the 
base of the telopodite, the most proximal designated by 1. Thus, in P. 
branneri the four mesial processes are labeled ml, m2, m3, and m4; the 
four ectal processes are el, e2 + 3 (indicating that they share a common 
pedicel), and e4 (Figs. 28-29). Examination of the left gonopods of 51 
specimens collected from the Kings Mountain region revealed consid- 
erable gonopodal variation. 
The only evident variation in the mesial processes involved suppres- 
sion and division of m4. Nearly three-fourths of the individuals examined 
had a normal m4 lobe with a projecting setaceous shoulder (Figs. 28, 30, 
34); the remaining individuals had a reduced or vestigial m4, with a 
shoulder lacking setae (Figs. 31-33). In 75% of the specimens, m4 con- 
sisted of a large lobe contiguous with a smaller shoulder (Figs. 28, 30-33). 
This lobe was divided into two separate processes in the remaining 
specimens (Fig. 34). The other mesial processes, ml-m3, were virtually 
uniform, although one individual lacked m2 (Fig. 35). 
The most variable ectal process, el, displayed four configurations; 
spiniform (Figs. 28, 36) in 31% of the males; reduced (Fig. 37) in 29%; 
vestigial (Fig. 38) in 18%; and absent (Fig. 39) in 18%. Two individuals 
(4% of the males) carried a vestigial secondary spine distal to a reduced el 
spine (Fig. 40). The other ectal processes, e2+3 and e4, were uniform. 
Terminal macrosetae of the telopodite varied in abundance and dis- 
tribution. Thirty-one percent of the males had numerous macrosetae oc- 
curing from just distal to m4 to the telopodite tip (Figs. 28-30, 33-34), and 
fifty-one percent carried fewer macrosetae distributed from e4 to the tip 
(Fig. 31). Most remaining individuals (14%) possessed very few mac- 
rosetae, occurring only apically on the telopodite (Fig. 35). Two in- 
dividuals (4%) lacked terminal macrosetae (Fig. 32). 
Hoffman (1974) reported that m2, m3, e2, and e3 were the most 
variable processes in P. branneri, but these were found to be the most 
stable in the Kings Mountain population, where most of the variation in- 
volved m4, el, and the terminal macrosetae. Many combinations of these 
