Kings Mountain Milliped Fauna 
39 
Filka 1979), and two montane millipeds, D. georgianum and B. stricta, 
reach their eastern terminus in the area. It is also the easternmost limit 
for P. impressus and the genus Teniulus, the southeasternmost known site 
for C. medialis, and the western limit for P. ectenes. The Kings Mountain 
region is therefore a unique area in North Carolina, in the southern ele- 
ments of its milliped fauna, in being a transitional area between 
predominantly eastern and western faunas, and in forming a part of the 
range periphery for four genera. 
Teulings and Cooper (1977) used the term “cluster areas” to denote 
places in North Carolina where species of concern are grouped. Four 
rivers systems and four land areas in the Piedmont Plateau Province were 
so identified. In a preliminary report, Filka and Shelley (1977) indicated 
that, on the basis of its diplopod fauna alone, the Kings Mountain region 
also would qualify as a cluster area. Three species considered of concern 
in North Carolina occur in the region — P.c. incursus (endangered), and 
C. catawba and D. lea (special concern). Moreover, the range peripheries 
of P. ectenes, P. impressus, Teniulus sp., C. medialis, D. georgianum, B. 
stricta and P.c. incursus lie there. The area also contains a unique 
gonopod variant of B. stricta, and is distinguished by southern elements 
of its fauna (C. catawba and P.c. incursus). As far as millipeds are con- 
cerned the Kings Mountain region is of singular importance to North 
Carolina, and investigations of other animal groups may provide further 
evidence of its uniqueness. One state park, Crowders Mountain, exists in 
the area, and every effort should be made to expand it to include the 
deciduous bottomlands where most milliped species occur, including 
those now considered of concern in the state. No millipeds were found 
during this study in the dry, predominantly pine habitats of the existing 
park. 
One objective of this study, that of gaining insight into evolutionary 
processes affecting millipeds in the southern Appalachians, went unmet. 
With only five species in common and a lowland-type faunal diversity, 
the Kings Mountain region adds little to current knowledge of milliped 
biogeography that might be applied to such an objective. Moreover, none 
of the five shared species belong to the xystodesmid tribe Aphelorini, 
which is the single most diverse and abundant element of the Appala- 
chian fauna. Aside from the ubiquitous Sigmoria latior, which ranges 
from the mountains of West Virginia to the Coastal Plain of southern 
South Carolina (Shelley 1976c), the great southeastern aphelorine fauna 
is absent from the Kings Mountain region. 
The study was, however, the first attempt to document seasonal 
occurrence of milliped species in a discrete part of the southeast, an en- 
deavor that should receive more attention. Seasonal sampling of juveniles 
and adults can yield valuable information on life histories, for example, 
and basic biological knowledge of this type has never been determined 
for most North American diplopods. Although direct rearing of larvae 
and adults, and breeding experiments, would provide the best such infor- 
mation, inferences can nevertheless be gained from seasonal collections. 
