Life under the mother’s hug: Harmonization of the developmental schedules of epimorphs based on early development of the scolopendromorph centipede Cryptops parisi Brolemann, 1920 (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Cryptopidae)

Abstract

Development of the cryptopid centipede Cryptops parisi is analyzed for the first time. During the period between oviposition and abandonment of the brood, we identified sixteen brood-dependent stages under the three developmental phases (embryonic, embryoid, and adolescens) on a sample collected at the Babin Zub locality in Serbia. In summary, eight stages within three subphases (embryonic I to III) are described from the embryonic phase, in addition to one intermediate stage (hatch), six stages from the embryoid phase (proembryoid I to III, praefoetus, foetus I and II) and only one in the adolescent phase (adolescens I). Tracing external morphological changes on the postpedal segment, we found that males and females can be distinguished at the adolescens I stage. In addition, it is established that the precise identification of species is possible for the first time at the second foetus stage in C. parisi development. By means of comparison, an attempt is made to achieve harmonization of the developmental schedules of scolopendromorphic and geophilomorphic centipedes as a final objective.