Centipede communities in the forests of Flanders

During a year-round pitfall sampling campaign in 56 Flemish forest stands, a total number of 21 centipede species were caught. Community analyses on t he basis of the species composition revealed that three distinct dusters of forests could be recognised which are separated geographically. The Campin e Region with a lot of pine forests, which is characterised by its sandy so ils, contained the lowest diversity of centipedes and only Lithobius forfic atus and L. calcaratus were common. Sandy Flanders with a lot of oak forest s contained more species including Cryptops hortensis, the most characteris tic species of this region. The Loamy Region contained a lot of oak and bee ch forests and Cryptops parisi and Lithobius dentatus were especially chara cteristic for this region.