RECORDS OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM 26 087–093 (2010) Optimised captive husbandry conditions for the Western Australian ‘Marri Millipede’ Antichiropus variabilis (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae), with notes on natural history and tissue preservation techniques Janine M. Wojcieszek1, Mark S. Harvey2,1 and Michael G. Rix2 1Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology M092, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Email:
[email protected] 2Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welshpool D.C., Perth, Western Australia 6986, Australia. ABSTRACT – The millipede genus Antichiropus Attems, 1911, is extremely diverse and the majority of species are endemic to south-western Western Australia. Very little is known about the general biology of species of Antichiropus; however, these millipedes are becoming useful models for studies of speciation and sexual selection, and remain central to SRE-based conservation planning for government and industry in the expanding resources sector of Western Australia. This paper details optimised captive husbandry conditions and observations made regarding the natural history of one species – Antichiropus variabilis – following three years of fi eld collecting and laboratory-based behavioural and molecular research. INTRODUCTION found in Marri (Corymbia calophylla) and Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forests along much of the The genus Antichiropus is an extremely diverse Darling Escarpment east of Perth (Harvey 2002) (Figure group of largely short-range endemic (SRE) millipedes 2). Recent research investigating sexual selection (Harvey 2002), occurring in south-western Western in A. variabilis required the development of captive Australia and western South Australia (Harvey and husbandry procedures for laboratory experiments, and Mesibov 2007).