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  • Illacme Plenipes: Millipedes Are A Group of

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    Millipedes are arthropods characterized by having two pairs of legs on most body segments. They have elongated cylindrical or flattened bodies with over 20 segments. The largest species can have up to 750 legs. There are approximately 12,000 known millipede species classified into orders and families, making them the largest class of myriapods. Most millipedes are detritivores that eat decaying plant matter and some eat fungi or suck plant fluids, though a small number are predatory. They generally defend themselves with chemicals but some have detachable bristles.

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    Millipedes

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    Millipedes

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    Millipedes are arthropods characterized by having two pairs of legs on most body segments. They have elongated cylindrical or flattened bodies with over 20 segments. The largest species can have up to 750 legs. There are approximately 12,000 known millipede species classified into orders and families, making them the largest class of myriapods. Most millipedes are detritivores that eat decaying plant matter and some eat fungi or suck plant fluids, though a small number are predatory. They generally defend themselves with chemicals but some have detachable bristles.

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    Illacme Plenipes: Millipedes Are A Group of

    Uploaded by

    Midhun U K
    Millipedes are arthropods characterized by having two pairs of legs on most body segments. They have elongated cylindrical or flattened bodies with over 20 segments. The largest species can have up to 750 legs. There are approximately 12,000 known millipede species classified into orders and families, making them the largest class of myriapods. Most millipedes are detritivores that eat decaying plant matter and some eat fungi or suck plant fluids, though a small number are predatory. They generally defend themselves with chemicals but some have detachable bristles.

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    Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on

    most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name being derived
    from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a result of two single segments fused together.
    Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical or flattened bodies with more than 20 segments,
    while pill millipedes are shorter and can roll into a ball. Although the name "millipede" derives from
    the Latin for "thousand feet", no known species has 1,000; the record of 750 legs belongs to Illacme
    plenipes. There are approximately 12,000 named species classified into 16 orders and around
    140 families, making Diplopoda the largest class of myriapods, an arthropod group which also
    includes centipedes and other multi-legged creatures.
    Most millipedes are slow-moving detritivores, eating decaying leaves and other dead plant matter.
    Some eat fungi or suck plant fluids, and a small minority are predatory. Millipedes are generally
    harmless to humans, although some can become household or garden pests, especially
    in greenhouses where they can cause severe damage to emergent seedlings. Most millipedes
    defend themselves with a variety of chemicals secreted from pores along the body, although the
    tiny bristle millipedes are covered with tufts of detachable bristles. Reproduction in most species is
    carried out by modified male legs called gonopods, which transfer packets of sperm to females.
    First appearing in the Silurian period, millipedes are some of the oldest known land animals. Some
    members of prehistoric groups grew to over 2 m (6 ft 7 in); the largest modern species reach
    maximum lengths of 27 to 38 cm (11 to 15 in). The longest extant species is the giant African
    millipede (Archispirostreptus gigas).
    Among myriapods, millipedes have traditionally been considered most closely related to the
    tiny pauropods, although some molecular studies challenge this relationship. Millipedes can be
    distinguished from the somewhat similar but only distantly related centipedes (class Chilopoda),
    which move rapidly, are carnivorous, and have only a single pair of legs on each body segment. The
    scientific study of millipedes is known as diplopodology, and a scientist who studies them is called a
    diplopodologist.

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