Vahtera & Lehtinen • Memoranda Soc. Fauna Flora Fennica 94, 201836
Introduction
Geophilus carpophagus Leach, 1815 is one of the 
most common chilopods in the Western Palearc-
tic and is widely encountered throughout northern 
Africa up to northern Europe (Bonato & Minelli 
2011). It is part of the carpophagus species-com-
plex that in addition to the nominal species in-
cludes the closely-related G. arenarius Meinert, 
1870 from Algeria and G. easoni Arthur, Fod-
dai, Kettle, Lewis, Luczynski & Minelli, 2001 
from Great Britain (Bonato & Minelli 2011). In 
the Nordic countries G. carpophagus is record-
ed from Denmark, Southern Norway and South-
ern Sweden (Andersson 2005; Andersson 2014). 
From Finland it has been found from a single 
southwestern locality in the mid 20th century. 
However, there have been no records since the 
mid 1980s and the species was given the status 
of regionally extinct (RE) in the latest national 
evaluation of red-listed species (Mannerkoski et 
al. 2010). 
G. carpophagus was first recorded in 1959 
from a rocky seashore in southwestern Finland 
(Lehtinen 1961) and this locality has remained the 
only known locality of the species in Finland. In 
Rediscovery of Geophilus carpophagus Leach (Chilopoda: 
Geophilomorpha) from Finland
Varpu Vahtera* & Pekka T. Lehtinen
Vahtera, V. & Lehtinen, P.T., Zoological Museum, Biodiversity Unit, FI-20014 University of 
Turku, Finland. *email: varpu.vahtera@utu.fi (author for correspondence)
Geophilus carpophagus Leach, 1815 has long been listed as regionally extinct from Finland. Here 
we report its rediscovery after decades of absence.
Keywords: Geophilus carpophagus, Chilopoda, Finland
this year and the following years it was found in 
considerable numbers under small stones and the 
carpets of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi and Vaccinium 
vitis-idaea that form the principal ground vegeta-
tion in the pine forest delineating the stony beach. 
G. carpophagus was subsequently searched for in 
the mid 1980s during the first national evaluation 
of threatened species but without success (Ras-
si et. al. 1986). The species was not found dur-
ing the next three red-list evaluations and it has 
been classified as regionally extinct (Mannerkos-
ki et al. 2010; Rassi et al. 1992;2001). 
Methods
Fieldwork was conducted in Parainen, Mustfinnö, 
Taipaleenranta, June 29th, 2015. The habitat (Fig. 
1) is a rocky, cobblestone beach without vegeta-
tion extending ca. 20 m landward from the shore-
line and delineated by a pine forest. Except for 
the small functioning dockyard in the near vicini-
ty, the habitat still very accurately resembles that 
described in Lehtinen, 1961.
Chilopods were searched for by hand un-
der stones and under the ground vegetation in 
Memoranda Soc. Fauna Flora Fennica 94: 36–38. 2018
Helsinki 4 June 2018
ISSN 0373-6873 (print) 
ISSN 1796-9816 (online)
Memoranda Soc. Fauna Flora Fennica 94, 2018 • Vahtera & Lehtinen 37
the pine forest directly adjacent to the shore. Be-
ing the largest (up to 60 mm in length) geophilo-
morph species in Finland and the only one with 
greenish colouration, G. carpophagus can be eas-
ily identified in the field without using a micro-
scope. 
▲ Figure 1. One of the authors (Lehtinen) turning stones in 
the Geophilus carpophagus habitat.
► Figure 2.  Two Geophilus carpophagus specimens, one 
coiled around a cluster of eggs.
Vahtera & Lehtinen • Memoranda Soc. Fauna Flora Fennica 94, 201838
Results and discussion
During approximately two hours of searching 
we found four G. carpophagus specimens, all 
under one stone close to the forest line (Fig. 1). 
One specimen had burrowed a small hole in the 
moist sand under the stone and was coiled around 
a cluster of eggs (Fig. 2). Three others were found 
walking on the sand under the same stone. 
Based on the specimens and the eggs we 
found, we can now confirm that there seems to be 
a viable, but not abundant, population of G. car-
pophagus living in the same habitat where it was 
found for the very first time in 1959. Since this is 
the only known locality of the species in Finland, 
it would be justifiable to protect the habitat.
Acknowledgements. We thank Tapani Hopkins for kindly 
checking the language. 
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