About Chonaphe armata (Harger, 1872)
Like many other xystodesmid millipedes, Chonaphe armata usually has a black to brown base color, with paranota that have yellow tips. This species has more color variation than other Pacific Northwest xystodesmids: its paranota can also range in color from light cream to orangish-red, and this paranotal color can form bands across the tergites of the posterior segments. In common with many other xystodesmid species, C. armata can produce hydrogen cyanide from ozopores located on the edge of the paranota of each body segment. C. armata lives in five separate disjunct populations. Its distribution includes the Rocky Mountains of northern Idaho and western Montana, the Okanagan Highlands of Washington, the eastern Cascade Range of Washington and Oregon, and the Blue Mountains of Oregon.
