Standard and molecular methods used toward a better understanding of centipedes

Centipedes are an important class of the predatory arthropod fauna. Although the Romanian territory is rich in species, with more than 26% endemic, it suffers from a lack of information regarding not only the ecology but also distribution and biology of this group. Therefore I focus my initial efforts towards establishing the distribution and habitat preferences of centipedes in Muntenia region (south of Southern Carpathians), an almost blank space on the map. To this, I add our team work directed to the analysis of the dynamic of species assemblages on different depths, in three types of habitats (beech forest, sessile oak forest and shrubs at the base of conglomerate cliffs in a gorge) under the influence of temperature and humidity annual variations. In myriapodology, molecular approaches have started to be used mainly for establishing phylogenetic relationships and databases for species identification, but, on the long term, I want to explore the possibly of delimiting some uncertain cryptic species or, closer to my line of work, using metabarcoding for diet analysis of some of taxa where direct observation have mostly failed.