Polydesmus is certainly the largest genus in the family, with over 200 species and subspecies known, mainly in Europe and the Mediterranean west of the central Caucasus (Hoff man 1980, Djursvoll et al. 2001), plus four in Japan: Polydes-
mus japonicus Miyosi, 1956, P. miyosii Murakami, 1966, P. tanakai Murakami, 1970 and P. tangonis Murakami, 1973; two in eastern China: P. moorei Pocock, 1895, P. paludicola Pocock, 1895; and one, P. liber Golovatch, 1991, in Hong Kong, southern China (Golovatch 1991). Th e distribution of Polydesmus therefore seems to be amphi-Palearctic (Golovatch, 1991).