Millipedes & Centipedes

 Today while Papaw was at his State Park job he saw both millipedes and centipedes. Can you tell the difference between them? If you listen close, you will be able to tell the difference when we are finished. This is a picture of the millipede He saw today. The centipede looked like this.

Some people think that rollie pollies are centipedes, but they are not. Rollie pollies are isopods and are in the group with  to crabs and shrimp. They are land dwelling crustaceans.

Can you tell the difference? Here is how you can tell.

Millipedes:

• ·       Have rounded bodies (like a tube)
• ·       Have two pairs of legs for each body segment
• ·       Eat rotten wood and decaying plants
• ·       Curl up and let out a smelly fluid when threatened (the don’t usually bite)
• ·       Millipedes are pretty slow
• ·       They have short bent antenna

Centipedes:

• ·       Have flattened bodies
• ·       Have only one pair of legs for each body segment
• ·       Eat other insects
• ·       Can bite when threatened! (better just observe them)
• ·       Centipedes are fast!
• ·       They have long, thin antenna

Papaw even wrote a song about centipedes!

 

Here is a video about them!

Later Gator!

Love Papaw.