Learn more about the difference between centipedes and millipedes, their origins and how they are different from insects. The largest centipede in the world, Scolopendra gigantea, is a 30 centimetre centipede from South America that is able to eat mice and lizards. The millipede, in most species, an elongated, rounded, exoskeletal body. The animal with the most number of legs is Illacme plenipes, a millipede with a record of 750 legs.Īn Australian native, the House Centipede, scientifically known as Allothereua maculata, is the most common centipede throughout southern Australia. The centipede has an elongated, flattened, exoskeletal body. For a start, the number of pairs of legs in centipedes is always an odd number and the known range is between 15 and 191 pairs.Ĭentipedes have only one pair of legs per body segment compared to millipedes with two pairs of legs per body segment. The European centipede (Chilopoda) Himantarum. Arthropods are animals with hard exoskeleton and jointed limbs.Ĭentipedes and millipedes are not insects as they have more than six legs, but the names centipede meaning 100 legs and millipede meaning 1,000 legs is a bit misleading. Centipedes are carnivorous, whilst millipedes feeed mainly on decaying vegetation. For some people, the secretion can cause itching, burning or skin irritation.Centipedes and millipedes are myriapods (Ancient Greek: murias = ten thousand, pod = foot), all of which are terrestrial animals, have a segmented body, a pair of antennae and breathing holes called spiracles.Ĭentipedes and millipedes are myriapods not insects, but myriapods and insects belong to the largest group of animals on Earth, the arthropods. Millipedes, on the other hand, pose no biting risk, but they can leave behind a bad-smelling secretion on your hands when handled. For most people, the bite causes a mild reaction like that of a bee sting, but for people allergic to insect venom the reaction can be severe, according to the University of Georgia Extension. ![]() ![]() Of the two, centipedes pose more risks to humans because they can bite. You should avoid handling both centipedes and millipedes, but not for the same reason. The smallest centipedes can be less than a half-inch long, while the biggest are more than 1 foot long! Millipedes can be tiny - about one-tenth of an inch long - but some species grow to be more than 10 inches long. Millipedes are most always found in moist habitats, while centipedes can be found in nearly any habitat.Ĭentipedes and millipedes can both vary greatly in size. Millipede species are far more numerous, with more than 80,000 different kinds of millipedes compared with 8,000 species of centipedes. Millipedes, on the other hand, mostly eat decaying plant matter, Live Science reports.īoth centipedes and millipedes live on every continent except Antarctica. Centipedes are predators, feasting on smaller arthropods. If it rolls up into a ball and remains still, it's a millipede.Įven the diets of these two arthropods are different from one another. If you uncover an unidentified many-legged creature under a log or pile of leaves and it scatters away, that would be a centipede, according to Live Science. Centipede legs are also typically longer than those of a millipede.īeyond their appearance, you can also tell a centipede from a millipede by their behavior. One difference between a centipede and a millipede is that a centipede only has one set of legs (or two legs total) per body segment. An organism of species Phyllogonostreptus nigrolabiatus, with bokeh effect of soil in background. Centipedes are members of the chilopoda class of arthropods. ![]() Centipedes have legs that point away from their bodies, while millipede legs point down at the ground. Detailed Macro photo of rolled up Millipede similar to Centipede. The position of their legs is probably the easiest way to visually distinguish them from one another. While centipedes have one pair of legs on every body segment, millipedes have two pairs of legs per segment, Live Science reports. A millipede or centipede, a small animal on a rock Stock Photo. And while both types of arthropods have many feet, their legs and feet are the easiest way to tell the difference between a centipede and a millipede. Thousands of new and contemporary pictures added daily. In fact, many millipedes have less than 100 legs, Mother Nature Network reports.īoth centipedes and millipedes belong to a group of arthropods called myriapods, which in Greek translates to "countless feet," Live Science reports. The names of these arthropods - they are not insects, as commonly thought - may seem to be telling, but both names are misnomers because not all centipedes have 100 legs and no millipedes have 1,000 legs. Among those are centipedes and millipedes, two distinctly different types of creatures that are often confused with one another. Many people don't give a second thought to creepy crawly things in the dirt, but there's a whole ecosystem down there filled with innumerable living things.
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