Exploring the Morphological Differences and Geographical Pattern in Schendyla tyrolensis in the Southern Alps and Apennines

The study was done on a group of underground centipedes of the order Geophilomorpha called Schendyla tyrolensis, which can be found in (but not limited to) the Italian Peninsula. This study originated from observing noticeable morphologically differences in individuals that have been sampled from the Italian Southern Alps and Apennines, leaving to question if S. tyrolensis is truly a single species. To address this question, one of the goals was to explore the morphological variation on traits that have been measured in a sample of 175 individuals, and visualize and describe possible geographical patterns. Another goal was to estimate the number of species inside the currently recognized S. tyrolensis, which was approached via the use of a model-based cluster analysis, with the assumption that groups of morphologically different individuals could be considered different species.