A unique pattern of missing defence glands on certain body rings is described for two species of the
millipede family Mongoliulidae, order Julida: Ussuriiulus pilifer Golovatch, 1980, and Koiulus interruptus
Enghoff et al., 2017. Based on the patterns of missing glands observed in recently collected samples of the
two species, numbers of podous and apodous body rings in successive stadia of the postembryonic
development can be inferred for each individual millipede, which in turn allows the reconstruction of
pathways of anamorphosis in these species. The inferred numbers of body rings in developmental stadia
are compared with actual numbers observed on additional samples, including the type series, of U. pilifer.
The pattern of missing glands in the two mongoliulid species is compared with the pattern of missing
glands typical of the entire millipede order Polydesmida.