Distribution of the centipede <I>Scolopocryptops sexspinosus</I> (Say) in Alaska and Canada (Scolopendromorpha: Cryptopidae)

Abstract

Specific Alaskan and Canadian localities are recorded for the chilopod Scolopocryptops sexspinosus(Say) (Cryptopidae), the only indigenous Nearctic scolopendromorph species occurring north of the lower 48 states. It occurs west of the crest of the Coast Range in British Columbia, extending northward to the southernmost islands of Alaska, and is recorded for the first time from eastern Canada, from Niagara Gorge, Ontario. Reports of S. rubiginosus Koch from southern Alaska are based on a misidentification of S. sexspinosus, and records from the north-central United States are too distant from the international border for it to be plausible for Manitoba and western Ontario. This centipede does not occur along the Pacific Coast and is improbable for any other part of Canada.