Sphaeromimus splendidus: Red List Assessment

The Shiny Giant Pill-Millipede (Sphaeromimus splendidus) is only known from one small forest fragment, which belongs to the littoral forest of Sainte Luce. Due to its restriction to this small remnant, its extent of occurrence (EOO) is estimated to be only 10 km², while the area of occupancy (AOO) is estimated to be five to eight km². The fragment is continuously declining due to various anthropogenic activities within the forest and additionally seriously threatened by a planned strip-mining project, which will lead to the destruction of most of the remaining forest in Sainte Luce (Vincelette et al. 2003, Ganzhorn et al. 2007) and accordingly to a reduction in the population size of more than 80%. Due to the potential future destruction of most of the forest in Sainte Luce, the species is inferred to occur in only one location. Due to the continuous decrease of suitable habitat, the species’ EOO, AOO and the number of mature individuals are continuously declining. The Shiny Giant Pill-Millipede is thus assessed as Critically Endangered under criteria A3c, B1 and B2.