ffistoria naturalis bulgarica, 15, 2002: 79-85 The scutigeromorphs (Chilopoda: Scutigeromorpha) in the collection of the National Museum of Natural fflstory, Sofia Pavel STOEV Abstract, This paper is devoted to the treatment of the Scutigeromorpha collection in the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia. Seven species, belonging to the Scutigeridae Gervais, 1837 and PseUiodidae Wiirmli, 1978, are reported from 14 countries in Europe, Asia, South and Central America. Thereuonema syriacaVerhoeff, 1905 and Thereuopoda longicornis (Fabricius, 1793) are reported for a first time from Pakistan and Nepal, respectively. Two records from Brazil are based on a material from the Museo de Zoologia da USP, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Key words: Clulopoda, Scutigeridae, Pselliodidae, Faunistics, Europe, Asia, South and Central America Introduction In terms of systematics Scutigeromorpha is the least explored order of class Chilopoda. Despite research, which began as early as Linnaeus, and the scores of species named by prolific authors like George Newport, Fr. Meinert, Erich Haase, Karl Wilhelm Verhoeff, Ralph Chamberlin since then, no analysis of the taxonomicaUy significant characters nor attempts at working out a modern classification, based on them, were ever made. Just recently, in a number of papers (WURMLI, 1972, 1973a, b, 1974a, b, c, 1975a, b, 1977, 1978, 1979; WURMLI & Negrea, 1977) Marcus Wiirmli analysed the external morphology of the order, revised some of the genera (Scutigera, Thereuonema, Thereuopoda, neotropical Pselliodes) and resolved some long standing taxonomical problems. The lesser degree of knowledge about scutigeromorphs is also due to the fact that the animals are as a rule overlooked by collectors. Usually, only a few specimens from a certain collecting site enter the museum's collections. Thus, the fauna of many countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands remain unknown. This paper puts on record the first part of the Scutigeromorpha collection, gathered mainly by Dr Petar Beron in 10 countries and deposited in the 79