It is often difficult to be clear about the precise status of a species on the shore, i.e. as to whether myriapods found in or close to the littoral zone are obligate halophiles, species that are typically terrestrial but also occur on the shore or just chance occurrences. Filippo Silvestri (1903) referred to:
Such a situation may well be true of all "terrestrial" groups in which some species have invaded the littoral zone. The geophilomorph centipede Hydroschendyla submarina, for instance, has only been recorded from seashores in northern Europe, the Mediterranean and Bermuda and is clearly "genuini", whilst the widespread Pachymerium ferrugineum is clearly "indifferenti" in much of its range. The situation is made more complex by species such as Schendyla peyerimhoffi which appear to be "genuini" in one country but occur inland in another. In many cases, where species are described from a single littoral site, clarity of status is impossible to clarify and these lists may include some species which may later be considered "accidentali".
Myriapods have been found in a diversity of sites on the upper shore and around high tide level including under/in strand-line debris, in shingle, under stones on mud and, possibly the most difficult to sample, in rock crevices. Thalassisobates littoralis has been found in pitfall and shingle traps and other species have been extracted from debris using Tulgren (Berlese) funnels.