Pachyiulus varius (Fabricius, 1781)

Kime, Richard Desmond & Enghoff, Henrik, 2017, Atlas of European millipedes 2: Order Julida (Class Diplopoda), European Journal of Taxonomy 346, pp. 1-299 : 153

512. Pachyiulus varius (Fabricius, 1781)

Iulus varius Fabricius, 1781 .

Julus nigripes C.L. Koch, 1847 .

Julus unicolor C.L. Koch, 1847 .

Distribution

AL, BA, BG, FR-FRA, GR-GRC, HR, IT-ITA, MK, MN, RO, SB, SI, TR-TUE. – Also Georgia.

Habitat

Common on karst. Collected from forest litter and rotting wood. Several records from caves.

Remarks

Pachyiulus varius is the oldest available name for a group of species which are notoriously difficult to distinguish. Mauriès et al. (1997) provided a good discussion of the problem and synonymised several other nominal species under P. varius . Recent studies by Frederiksen et al. (2012) suggest, however, that there are several species hiding under P. varius sensu Mauriès et al. (1997) . We therefore treat P. apfelbecki , P. flavipes and P. oenologus as separate species, although we realize that additional studies may yet change the picture. Numerous infraspecific forms have been named within the complex – their status is largely unresolved.