Common Millipede

• Despite the name, it never reaches a thousand legs: an individual with 52 segments has 194.
• With so many legs it needs fine coordination not to trip itself up: it moves them in a wave, so that only one foot in eight is touching the ground at any moment.
• Unlike centipedes, it is entirely harmless: a herbivore and decomposer, it works organic matter into the soil and is worth encouraging rather than killing.
• It does not have a thousand legs: millipedes carry two pairs per segment, and common species have around a hundred or two hundred. The group record is held by an Australian species with 1,306.
• It defends itself by coiling into a spiral and secreting repellent substances through pores along its sides; some millipedes produce compounds that release cyanide.
• It walks with an undulating leg movement that travels along the body like a wave, a mechanism that has been copied in robotics.
• It is a detritivore and essential to the recycling of forest soil: it breaks up leaf litter and leaves it ready for fungi and bacteria.
• Unlike centipedes, which are fast, venomous predators, millipedes are slow, harmless and vegetarian.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (myriapod)

Habitat & environment

Damp soils with organic matter: woodland, allotments, cultivated plots and gardens

Sources consulted: Fauna Europaea; Wikipedia (Julus terrestris); Naturaleza Para Todos; Fauna Auxiliar (Familia Julidae); Alma Biológica

Best time: Autumn and spring, on damp days, under stones and leaf litter