Kings Mountain Milliped Fauna 
27 
Xystodesmidae 
Boraria stricta (Brolemann, 1896) 
Figs. 47-53 
The color of B. stricta, black with yellow paranota, is typical of most 
xystodesmid species in the Kings Mountain region. Adults were most 
abundant in April, and juveniles were common in October and April. 
Large colonies were discovered in wet mud-clay soils lining the banks of 
streams throughout the region. Individuals often were captured in tun- 
nels beneath shallow layers of detritus. Round molting chambers, simi- 
lar to those described for this species by Hoffman (1965), were observed 
in the vertical shafts of several tunnels in April (Figs. 52-53). Each cham- 
ber was formed of clay attached to exposed plant roots, and inhabited by 
a newly molted milliped with its cast exuvium. As can be seen by compar- 
ing illustrations (Figs. 45-46, 52-53), the molting chamber of B. stricta is 
spherical with an apical “chimney” and is attached at its base, whereas 
that of A. erythropygos is round, flattened in a vertical plane, and at- 
tached at both ends. These distinctions reflect the different biotopes in- 
habited by the species. 
Hoffman (1965) reported that the known range of B. stricta 
coincided closely with the southern section of the Blue Ridge physi- 
ographic province and predicted only slight extensions at the northern 
and southern extremities. Discovery of the species in the Kings Mountain 
region represents an extension of slightly less than 64 km east into the 
Piedmont Plateau. The species was not reported by Shelley (1978) from 
the fall zone region, and extensive investigations in the Uwharrie Moun- 
tains also have failed to produce it. Hence, the Kings Mountain popula- 
tion is the easternmost known and is probably peripheral. Specimens also 
have been collected from a number of other Piedmont localities in the 
past eight years by Shelley, and since the Piedmont is geologically and 
climatically distinct from the southern Appalachians, material from the 
entire range was examined to determine if recognition of geographic 
races was warranted. Hoffman (1965) noted the homogeneity of B. stricta 
gonopods, with only slight differences detected. The lobes of the distal 
subhastate end of the telopodite varied in size relative to each other, and 
the degree of bending at midlength of the telopodite and apically on the 
prefemoral process varied. These differences were scattered and inconsis- 
tent, not conforming to any geographic pattern. The prefemoral proc- 
cesses of seven percent of males in the Kings Mountain population 
(including material from York County, South Carolina), however, were 
apically bifurcate (Figs. 47-48, 51), a condition never before reported for 
either the genus or species. These bifurcate males were intermixed with 
normal individuals, although there were differences in the apical pre- 
femoral bend of the latter (Figs. 49,50). 
In summary, no significant geographical variation was observed in 
