MILLIPEDES

Narceus americanus, an American species from the Order Spirobolida. Millipedes range from 2 to 280 millimetres (0.079 to 11 in) in length, and can have as few as eleven, to over a hundred segments. They are generally black or brown in colour, although there are few brightly coloured species.

The millipede’s most obvious feature is its large number of legs. Having very many short legs makes millipedes rather slow, but they are powerful burrowers. With their legs and body length moving in a wavelike pattern, they easily force their way underground head first. They also seem to have some engineering ability, reinforcing the tunnel by rearranging the particles around it. Their bodies have segmented sections which makes them move in a wave-like form.

The head of a millipede is typically rounded above and flattened below and bears large mandibles. The body is flattened or cylindrical, with a single chitinous plate above, one at each side, and two or three on the underside. In many millipedes, these plates are fused to varying degrees, sometimes forming a single cylindrical ring. The plates are typically hard, being impregnated with calcium salts.[4]

Unlike centipedes and other similar animals, each segment bears two pairs of legs, rather than just one. This is because each is actually formed by the fusion of two embryonic segments, and is therefore properly referred to as a “diplosegment”, or double segment. The first few segments behind the head are not fused in this fashion, and the first segment is legless, called a collum segment while the second to fourth have one pair each. In some millipedes, the last few segments may also be legless. The final segment bears a telson.[4]