CHILOPODA IN FOREST HABITAT-ISLANDS IN NORTH-WEST WESTPHALIA, GERMANY

The occurrence of centipedes was investigated in an old, continuous St ellario-Carpinetum (oak-hornbeam) forest and eight forest isolates var ying in area from 0.5 ha to 2.6 ha, in age from over 100 years to abou t 30 years, situated between 20 m to 2900 m from the forest. In total 17 species (13 Lithobiomorpha, 1 Scolopendromorpha, 3 Geophilomorpha) were found. Although there is a group of dominant species (Brachygeoph ilus truncorum (Bergsoe & Meinert, 1866), Lithobius dentatus C.L. Koch , 1844, L. muticus C.L. Koch, 1847, L. forficatus (L., 1758) occurring in nearly every site, ordination by correspondence analysis revealed three groups of communities which differ in the presence of less frequ ent species (Lithobius mutabilis, L. piceus, L, agilis, L. microps etc .): 1) in the old, continuous forest 2) in moderately isolated woodlot s 3) in woodlots which are separated from the old forest by built-up a reas. The analysis of scar frequencies showed that L. forficatus has a higher incidence of injuries in the continuous forest. Fort. muticus the reverse is true. Catches of L. forficatus from pitfall traps in th e continuous forest seem to decrease with increasing distance to the f orest edge suggesting that this centipede is invading the forest habit at.