- Animals
- ›Arthropods
- ›Myriapods
- ›Millipedes
- ›Chilognathan Millipedes
- ›Worm-like Millipedes
- ›Eugnatha
- ›Round-backed Millipedes
- ›Snake Millipedes
- ›Juloidea
- ›Julidae
- ›Julinae
- ›Brachyiulini
- ›Mammamia

Mammamia profuga
Mammamia profuga is a species of cave-dwelling millipede in the family Julidae. The only known species of the genus Mammamia, it was described in 2011 from a specimen discovered in a cave in Italy.
From the article Mammamia on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Mammamia profuga measures about 26 mm (1 inch) long, and 1.5 mm wide, consisting of around 50 body segments, the last two without legs. The body and legs are pale yellow in color, without markings, and the walking legs are about 2.25 mm long, except for the first pair in males, which are small and hook-like, as in other julidan millipedes. The species completely lacks eyes or ocelli. Like all members of the order Julida, mature males have two pairs of highly modified legs, the gonopods, consisting of the 8th and 9th pair, and in Mammamia the anterior (forward-most) gonopods are slightly longer than the posterior gonopods.
In human culture
The genus name Mammamia derives from the Italian expression "Mamma mia!" in reference to the "astonishing" features, including eyelessness and unique feature of the gonopods. The species name profuga is Latin for "homeless" or "refugee", a reference to the fact that the cave the species was discovered in was subsequently destroyed.
Wikipedia: “Etymology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Mammamia profuga in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 1103674.