Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
No reports have been published about symbiotic penicillate millipeds living in arboreal ant nests, though Donisthorpe (1927) reported those in edaphic ant nests. Therefore, we tried to determine the species and numbers of symbiotic penicillate millipeds in arboreal ant nests.
An investigation of the symbiotic penicillate millipeds was conducted in both the maritime forest (Daphniphyllum teijsmannii Zoll., Pinus thunbergii Parl.) and the mountain forest (Machilus thunbergii Sieb. et Zucc., Castanopsis cuspidata Schottky var. sieboldii Nakai) on Miyakejima Island (about N 34°05′, E 139°30′) in the Pacific Ocean, 28 March 1980. As a result, we found symbiotic penicillate millipeds of the family Polyxenidae only in the maritime forest.