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A mysterious line where two millipede species meet has been mapped in northwest Tasmania, Australia. Both species are common in their respective ranges, but the two millipedes cross very little into each other's territory. The mapping is credited Dr Bob Mesibov, over a two year period. Who is a millipede specialist and a research associate at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania. His results have been published in the open access journal ZooKeys.
"I have no idea why the line is so sharp", said Dr Mesibov. The boundary runs up and down hills, crosses rivers and different bedrocks and soils, and ignores vegetation type and climate differences. Its position and its sharpness seem to be the result of an unexplained biological arrangement between the two millipede species.' Biogeographers use the term 'parapatry' for the case where two species ranges meet but do not overlap, or overlap very little.
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