But thanks again to Tony Barber of the British Myriapod and Isopod Group (who also sent us the BMIG's Centipede records for VC56) it is now possible for us to produce and publish a long overdue modern atlas of Nottinghamshire Millipedes.

Most of the records in the BMIG's database, are Tony's own records, or those of P.E. Jones. Both recorded Millipedes in the Bingham area of the county in the late 1960's and early 1970's, although Tony also recorded Millipedes from a number of other Nottinghamshire locations.

Following on from the increased interest in Nottinghamshire Millipedes, a good number of new species have been added to the county list in the last few years. Millipedes recently recorded new to VC56 (Nottinghamshire) include Chordeuma proximum, Choneiulus palmatus and Boreoiulus tenuis in 2015, Macrosternodesmus pallicola in 2016, Melogona scutellaris in 2017, Leptoiulus belgicus and Brachychaeteuma bagnalli in 2018 - the last three species all coming from a suburban Mapperley garden. Nearby, Nottinghamshire's first record of Oxidus gracilis, came when one was found underneath a plant pot stood on bark chippings situated underneath a number of large conifers at a Mapperley garden centre in November 2022.

Unfortunately, two of the three UK Brachychaeteuma species are extremely difficult to determine to species level and require an adult male to be able to do so. Even then, there is great variability in the male gonopods and after Tim's Attenborough record, several Brachychaeteuma millipedes were subsequently recorded at Pleasley Vale by Derek Whiteley and from Mansfield Woodhouse and Mapperley gardens by Dilys and myself .

A succession of records from the suburban Mapperley garden since December 2016, eventually culminated in the finding of a male two years later, which finally allowed us to identify the species occurring there at least, as being Brachychaeteuma bagnalli.

Some Millipedes do have well used common names which we have decided to list here, as common names can make a species more 'user friendly' to those new to natural history. Those species with well used common names include the following list.

Polyxenus lagurus Bristly Millipede, Blaniulus guttulatus Spotted Snake Millipede, Proteroiulus fuscus Snake Millipede, Cylindroiulus punctatus Blunt-tailed Snake Millipede, Ommatoiulus sabulosus Striped Millipede, Tachypodoiulus niger White-legged Snake Millipede, . and Polydesmus angustus Flat-backed Millipede.

The distribution maps are largely built from the records of Tony Barber, P.E. Jones and an increased number of interested naturalists in recent years. We have avoided using historical records sourced from J.W. Carr's book "The Invertebrate Fauna of Nottinghamshire", feeling that a modern atlas is more representative of the current distribution of our Millipede fauna and far more useful. The maps are up to date, as of January 2024.

Our initial research showed no modern Nottinghamshire records of Polyxenus lagurus, more commonly known as the Bristly Millipede. No records are listed by the British Myriapod and Isopod Group, but the NBN Gateway lists records for Attenborough NR in 1967 and 1970 (Evans, M.) and it has been found there more recently. Other records have followed the discovery of Polyxenus lagurus on a wall at Church Warsop in 2015 (Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton, D.T.) with records from Woodborough Church and Southwell Minster.

New species continue to be added and this latest edition (the first for nearly five years) sees an updated review of the species accounts and the latest up to date (December 2022) distribution maps for each species.

Published December 2022