Xyloiuloidea

 ( Millipede Taxonomy ) 

Xyloiuloidea is an extinct superfamily of that existed from the Lower Devonian through the Upper Pennsylvanian period in Europe and North America.

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Description Xyloiuloids are more or less cylindrical, with sternites, , and tergites of each Diplosegment fused into a complete ring. Adults possess 40 to 50 body rings. The legs are no longer than half the height of the body. The body surface is marked by small parallel grooves (striations), which vary in surface coverage between xyloiuloid families.

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Taxonomy Xyloiuloidea comprises four families:

• †Gaspestriidae
• †Nyraniidae
• †Plagiascetidae
• †Xyloiulidae

The taxonomic history of Xyloiuloidea begins with Orator F. Cook designating the family Xyloiulidae in 1895. In 1969, Richard L. Hoffman established the families Nyraniidae and Plagiascetidae, and placed all three extinct families in the extant (still-living) order Spirobolida, as suborder "Xyloiulidea".Hoffman, Richard L., 1969. Myriapoda, exclusive of Insecta. R572–R606. In: Moore, R.C. (Ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part R, Vol. 2. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, KS. In 2006, two new species were described and placed in the new family Gaspestriidae, and group was reassigned as a superfamily of uncertain status ( incertae sedis) within the juliform millipedes, a group that includes the cylindrical, fused-bodied orders Spirobolida, Spirostreptida, and Julida.

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