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About the Cover
Cover: A spiracle of the southern African centipede Cormocephalus morsitans (Scolopendromorpha), the first centipede species for which conclusive eperimental and morphological evidence of occludible spiracles has been obtained (see Klok, Mercer and Chown, pp. 1019-1029). Most invertebrate biology texts state that centipedes, as a group, cannot close their spiracles. The scanning electron micrograph shows the three septa forming the atrial valve, which are visible through the trichiae lining the spriacular ostium. Superimposed on the left is a graph showing the rate of CO2 uptake, confirming experimentally the closure of the spiracles during discontinuous gas exchange cycles. On the right is a diagram illustrating how contraction of the atrial valve effects a gas-tight seal.
seal.
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