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Index of Bugs
Millipedes are not insects but belong with the insects in the phylum arthropoda. All arthropods have bodies made of many parts or segments. They also have an exoskeleton, which is a hard covering on the outside of their bodies that functions like a skeleton. Arthropod means jointed legs or appendages. Appendages of arthropods may be modified for feeling, feeding, walking, and sometimes swimming.
Millipede means “thousand feet,” but millipedes actually have between 50 and 150 pairs of legs. Millipedes have antennae. Millipedes have a body that is divided into a head and a cylindrical or long tube-like trunk. The trunk is segmented. Adult millipedes have two pairs of legs attached to most body segments. Young millipedes have only a few pairs of legs.
With each molt, additional segments and legs are added to the body until the millipede reaches maturity. Matching legs on each side of a millipede move together and many of its legs touch the ground at the same time. This movement of the legs enables the millipede to glide along smoothly. The legs also can help push the animal through rotting wood and soil.
Millipedes have a number of ways to defend themselves. One way is to run and hide in narrow cracks or burrow into the soil. Some kinds of millipedes coil into a spiral, and in this way, the hard exoskeleton protects them from predators.
Millipedes are active at night and spend most of their life in moist soil and decaying vegetation. They are nature's recyclers. Most kinds of millipedes eat decaying leaves and wood and other small pieces of dead plants. Dead organic material is also called detritus. Detritus feeders break down plant material by chewing it. During digestion, carbon dioxide is returned to the atmosphere to be reabsorbed by living plants. Without detritus feeders, our soils and water bodies would be buried in dead organic materials.
Millipedes are often confused with centipedes because they look similar. Centipedes have poisonous bites. Millipedes do not.
To learn more about millipedes and to see them in action, order the Backyard Bugs DVD.
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