[2] The French myriapodologist Henri W. Brölemann created this genus to contain the newly discovered type species D. tuberculata in 1902.

[6] The original descriptions of this genus and this species are based on multiple specimens of each sex collected from caves near Tourettes-sur-Loup and in Saint-Jeannet near Vence, both in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of southern France in the Maritime Alps.

[8] The second species in this genus to be discovered, D. doderoi, described in 1903 based on a male specimen found in Sardinia, measures only 8 mm in length.

Each species of Devillea features more than the 20 segments (that is, 19 rings plus the telson) typically observed in flat-backed millipedes.

[4] The species D. doderoi represents the most extreme example, ranging from 25 to as many as 29 segments, the maximum number recorded in this genus.