Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Common Millipede

Of the class Diplopoda (millipedes), the family that is native to and most common in North America is Parajulidae (order Julida). That is, if you live here you will most likely encounter a millipede belonging to that family. I believe that the millipede I found probably belongs to Parajulidae as well. Unfortunately I'm unable to pinpoint the genus and species. If you can identify this individual, please let me know.

Now, I recently wrote a post about centipedes. One of the main differentiating characteristics between the two classes (Chilopoda and Diplopoda, respectively) is that millipedes have 2 pairs of legs per body segment (except the first 3, which have 1), while centipedes have only 1 pair per segment. I've estimated that this millipede has 64 body segments, containing 125 legs in all. Sometimes you can determine the sex of a millipede by looking for an enlarged segment or a segment with missing legs, which contains the gonopods, meaning that the millipede is male. This is often the 7th segment. However, not all species have that feature. As for this individual, I can't discern a unique segment. So, that could indicate that it's a female. Unlike centipedes, millipedes can't bite. They're also slower-moving.

If I were to take a stab at identifying the species, I'd guess it was Uroblaniulus carolinensis or Ptyoiulus sp., the latter seeming to match by appearance. But I suppose it could also be Oriulus notus or Aniulus orientalis? Just going by the locations listed for each species at http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/diplopoda/julida/paraiulidae/index.html. I wasn't able to find photos of many of these.

Unlike the soil centipede I showed you, which was blind, this millipede has ocelli.  
Now you can see the antennae.
Coiling is a defensive behavior

References:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/97424 (Parajulidae, limited photos)
http://bugguide.net/node/view/37 (Diplopoda)
http://www.diplopoda.org/index.html (general info about millipedes; very good site)
http://tolweb.org/diplopoda (taxonomy)

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