Two new species are described from caves in several Greek islands in the Aegean Sea: Galliocookia gracilis
sp. n., a presumed troglobite from Rhodes, Dodecanese Islands, and Sphaeroparia simplex sp. n., likely a
troglophile from Kithnos, Cyclades, and Chios, Eastern Sporades. These genera are assigned to the family
Trichopolydesmidae Verhoeff, 1910. Because Sphaeroparia Attems, 1909, an Afrotropical genus, nicely
bridges the gap, both morphologically and geographically, between the Euro-Mediterranean Trichopoly-
desmidae and the much more diverse, pantropical Fuhrmannodesmidae Brölemann, 1916, the latter
family is considered as a new junior subjective synonym of the former, syn. n. Thus expanded, the family
Trichopolydesmidae is rediagnosed and its position within the superfamily Trichopolydesmoidea refined.
Because the families Mastigonodesmidae Attems, 1914, Macrosternodesmidae Brölemann, 1916 and
Nearctodesmidae Chamberlin & Hoffman, 1950 are also formally synonymized with Trichopolydes-
midae, syn. n., the Trichopolydesmoidea currently contains only two families, Trichopolydesmidae and
Opisotretidae Hoffman, 1980.
