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Abstract

A review is given of the diplopod fauna of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, with special reference to that of the periodically inundated areas of the Pantanal. The Mato Grosso list is rich and diverse (at least 85 species, about 34 genera), but clearly biased toward fewer higher groups that only contain species of larger size: four orders and seven families, with only four really small-bodied (<10 mm long) species yet encountered (one in Polyxenidae and three in Pyrgodesmidae, including Poratia salvator GOLOVATCH & SIERWALD, 2001, which is new to the fauna of Brazil). In contrast to Amazonia, the lack in the Pantanal of various types of inundation forest side by side with the selva on terra firme (= non-flooded upland forests), the prevalence of grasslands on sandy soils (the latter often too poor in nutrients to support a fauna of such a soil/litter-dwelling group as Diplopoda), the too few and sparse/ scattered woodlands, the wild fires and the profound seasonality due to both the more southern lie and the dominance of open terrain seem to account for the diplopods generally being uncharacteristic as a Pantanal fauna element.