Biodiversity Group: Arthropod of the Month: The Millipede

A total of 62 species of millipede have been found living in Britain although some of these are only found in hothouses having been introduced with imported plants and soil. They have segmented bodies with 2 pairs of legs to each segment, short heads and range in size from 2 – 6cm. Their eyesight is poor so they sense their way by continually tapping the ground with their antennae. They have a hard exoskeleton and when threatened roll up into a ball protecting their vulnerable underside. Some are also able to release substances that taste or smell foul as a defence. They are secretive animals living in soil and leaf mould and beneath stones, logs and bark. Their bodies are similar to bulldozers, and with their many short legs they are powerful burrowers. Females lay their eggs in the soil and in some species she or sometimes the male will guard the eggs until they hatch. At first the young have no legs but after the first moult they have 6 segments and 3 pairs of legs. Over the next 1 – 2 years they continue to moult gaining extra segments each time until they are fully grown. Millipedes feed at night or after rain mostly eating dead and decaying plant matter. They can live for up to 7 years.

Did You Know?

Millipede comes from the Latin ‘milli’ meaning thousand and ‘ped’ meaning foot.
Fossil evidence dated 428 million years ago suggests that the millipede is the oldest known land creature.
Most millipedes have between 80 and 400 legs with 750 being the most in some rare species.
They are very clean creatures and spend a lot of time cleaning and polishing various parts of their bodies. They have a special brush-like group of hairs on the 2^nd or 3^rd pair of legs which are used to clean their antennae

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