THE HOLARCTIC CENTIPEDE SUBFAMILY PLUTONIUMINAE (CHILOPODA, SCOLOPENDROMORPHA, CRYPTOPIDAE) (NOMEN-CORRECTUM-EX-SUBFAMILY PLUTONIINAE BOLLMAN, 1893)

The Holarctic chilopod subfamily Plutoniuminae Bellman, a corrected na me for Plutoniinae, consists of two genera, Plutonium Cavanna and Thea tops Newport, and six species; synapomorphies between them show that t he subfamily is a monophyletic group and that the different number of spiracles, 19 pairs in Plutonium and 9 pairs in Theatops, is only a ge neric-level character. and P. zwierleini Cavanna occur in Sicily, Sard inia, Napoli and Sorrento provinces in mainland Italy, and Granada Pro vince, Spain. Theatops erythrocephalus (C. L. Koch) occurs along the e astern side of the Adriatic Sea in the Balkan Peninsula. and in coasta l Spain and Portugal. The other four species - T. posticus (Say), T. s pinicaudus (Wood), T. phanus Chamberlin, and T. californiensis Chamber lin - occur in the United States and northwestern Mexico. Theatops pos ticus occupies a broad area east of the Central Plains from Connecticu t and southern New York to the south Florida keys and eastern Texas; a n allopatric western population extends from southwestern New Mexico a nd western Chihuahua to the southern Great Basin, the California deser t east of the Sierra Nevada, the Pacific Ocean in Baja California Nort e, the Channel Islands off the southern California coast, and the east ern slope of the Coast Range near the latitude of San Francisco Bay. T heatops spinicaudus occurs sympatrically with T. posticus in two areas of the east; the inner surfaces of its caudal legs possess variable s eries of ridges and teeth. Theatops phanus occurs in epigean and subte rranean environments in southern Texas and extends from east of highwa y I-35 to west of the Pecos River; the inner surfaces of its caudal le gs also possess variable series of ridges and teeth. The distribution of T. californiensis, anatomically convergent with T. erythrocephalus, is as described previously, but locality information is detailed, as only one site, the type locality, is currently known. Relationships am ong the plutoniuminine species are postulated as P. zwierleini + (T. s pinicau-dus + (T. phanus + (T. erythrocephalus +(T. posticus + T. cali forniensis)))). The Plutoniuminae and Cryptopinae logically share ance stry, and the Scolopocryptopinae may warrant elevation to family statu s.