Event

A look at the millipedes, how they live and how to identify and record local species. The millipedes (Diplopoda) are an easily overlooked group of animals because of their secretive lifestyles in soil or under bark. Because of this they are generally under-recorded and in recent years several new species of millipede (to Britain and to science) have been turning up, particularly nearby in South Wales. Therefore there is a lot of scope for making new discoveries and easily expanding knowledge of county distributions. There are over 60 species in Britain, so offer good variety, but without too daunting a challenge for the beginner.

Paul Richards has nearly 40 years experience as a professional zoologist, curator and ecologist specialising in ground invertebrates. He is currently working with a research team looking at Heliconius butterfly wing scale development and mimicry evolution at the University of Sheffield, where he has previously researched urban invertebrate diversity, ecosystem services and bird reproduction. In recent years he has undertaken commercial field ecology and worked for Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust as Ecological Monitoring Officer and helped to write the Sheffield State of Nature Report. For the 25 years prior to that he was Senior Curator of Natural History at Museums Sheffield.

Paul is Sorby Natural History Society recorder for Millipedes, Centipedes, Woodlice, Harvestmen, and Pseudoscorpions. He wrote the BMIG guide to millipedes, centipedes and woodlice as well as the new atlas of Dragonflies of the Sheffield area. The updated second edition of his FSC guide to British Harvestmen is currently being finalised and will be available soon. He is an active contributor to a number of Facebook invertebrate groups and is a passionate advocate of biological recording.

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