| Millipede Fossil range: 428–0 Ma Late Silurian to Recent |
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| Rusty millipede (Trigoniulus corallinus) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Uniramia |
| Class: | Diplopoda De Blainville in Gervais, 1844 [1] |
| Subclasses, orders and families | |
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Millipedes are arthropods that have two pairs of legs per segment (except for the first segment behind the head which does not have any appendages at all, and the next few which only have one pair of legs). Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one. Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical bodies, although some are flattened dorso-ventrally, while pill millipedes are shorter and can roll into a ball, like a pillbug.
The name "millipede" is a compound word formed from the Latin roots milli ("thousand") and ped ("foot"). Despite their name, millipedes do not have 1,000 legs, although the rare species Illacme plenipes has up to 750.[2] Common species have between 36 and 400 legs. The class contains around 10,000 species in 13 orders and 115 families. The giant African millipede (Archispirostreptus gigas), known as shongololos, is the largest species of millipede.
Millipedes are detritivores and slow moving. Most millipedes eat decaying leaves and other dead plant matter, moisturising the food with secretions and then scraping it in with the jaws. However they can also be a minor garden pest, especially in greenhouses where they can cause severe damage to emergent seedlings. Signs of millipede damage include the stripping of the outer layers of a young plant stem and irregular damage to leaves and plant apices.
Millipedes can be easily distinguished from the somewhat similar and related centipedes (Class Chilopoda), which move rapidly, and have a single pair of legs for each body segment. Unlike centipedes however, millipedes are by nature not predators, and due to their slow, non-aggressive behaviour and simple diet of decomposing leaves, are easy to keep and ideal as pets.
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This class of arthropod is thought to be among the first animals to have colonised land during the Silurian geologic period. These early forms probably ate mosses and primitive vascular plants. The oldest known land creature, Pneumodesmus newmani, was a 1 centimetre (0.39 in) long millipede, and lived 428 million years ago.[3]
Millipedes range from 2 to 280 millimetres (0.079 to 11.0 in) in length, and can have as few as eleven, to over a hundred segments. They are generally black or brown in colour, although there are few brightly coloured species.
The millipede's most obvious feature is its large number of legs. Having very many short legs makes millipedes rather slow, but they are powerful burrowers. With their legs and body length moving in a wavelike pattern, they easily force their way underground head first. They also seem to have some engineering ability, reinforcing the tunnel by rearranging the particles around it. Their bodies have segmented sections which makes them move in a wave-like form.
The head of millipedes is typically rounded above and flattened below and bears large mandibles. The body is flattened or cylindrical, with a single chitinous plate above, one at each side, and two or three on the underside. In many millipedes, these plates are fused to varying degrees, sometimes forming a single cylindrical ring. The plates are typically hard, being impregnated with calcium salts.[4]
Unlike centipedes and other similar animals, each segment bears two pairs of legs, rather than just one. This is because each is actually formed by the fusion of two embryonic segments, and is therefore properly referred to as a "diplosegment," or double segment. The first few segments behind the head are not fused in this fashion, and the first segment is legless, while the second to fourth have one pair each. In some millipedes, the last few segments may also be legless. The final segment bears a telson.[4]
Millipedes breathe through two pairs of spiracles on each diplosegment. Each opens into an internal pouch, and connects to a system of tracheae. The heart runs the entire length of the body, with an aorta stretching into the head. The excretory organs are two pairs of malpighian tubules, located near the mid-part of the gut.[4]
The head contains a pair of sensory organs known as the Tömösváry organs. These are found just posterior and lateral to the antennae, and are shaped as small and oval rings at the base of the antennae. They are probably used to measure the humidity in the surroundings, and they may have some chemoreceptory abilities too. Millipede eyes consist of a number of simple flat lensed ocelli arranged in a group on the front/side of the head. Many species of millipedes, such as cave-dwelling millipedes, have secondarily lost their eyes.
According to Guinness World Records the African giant black millipede Archispirostreptus gigas can grow to 38.6 centimetres (15.2 in).[5]
Most millipedes are herbivorous, and feed on decomposing vegetation or organic matter mixed with soil. A few species are omnivorous or carnivorous, and may prey on small arthropods, such as insects and centipedes, or on earthworms. Some species have piercing mouthparts that allow them to feed on plant juices.
The digestive tract is a simple tube with two pairs of salivary glands to help digest the food. Many millipedes moisten their food with saliva before eating it.[4]
Male millipedes can be differentiated from female millipedes by the presence of one or two pairs of legs modified into gonopods. These modified legs, which are usually on the seventh segment, are used to transfer sperm packets to the female during copulation.[6] A few species are parthenogenetic, having few, if any, males.
The genital openings are located on the third segment, and are accompanied in the male by one or two penises, which deposit the sperm packets onto the gonopods. In the female, the genital pores open into a small chamber, or vulva, which is covered by a small hood-like cover, and is used to store the sperm after copulation.[4]
Females lay between ten and three hundred eggs at a time, depending on species, fertilising them with the stored sperm as they do so. Many species simply deposit the eggs on moist soil or organic detritus, but some construct nests lined with dried faeces.
The young hatch after a few weeks, and typically have only three pairs of legs, followed by up to four legless segments. As they grow, they continually moult, adding further segments and legs as they do so. Some species moult within specially prepared chambers, which they may also use to wait out dry weather, and most species eat the shed exoskeleton after moulting. Millipedes live from one to ten years, depending on species.[4]
Due to their lack of speed and their inability to bite or sting, millipedes' primary defense mechanism is to curl into a tight coil — protecting their delicate legs inside an armored body exterior. Many species also emit poisonous liquid secretions or hydrogen cyanide gas through microscopic pores along the sides of their bodies as a secondary defense.[7][8][9] Some of these substances are caustic and can burn the exoskeleton of ants and other insect predators, and the skin and eyes of larger predators. Animals such as Capuchin monkeys have been observed intentionally irritating millipedes in order to rub the chemicals on themselves to repel mosquitoes.[10]. At least one species, Polyxenus fasciculatus employs detachable bristles to entangle ants.[11]
As far as humans are concerned, this chemical brew is fairly harmless, usually causing only minor effects on the skin, the main effect being discoloration, but other effects may also include pain, itching, local erythema, edema, blisters, eczema, and occasionally cracked skin.[8][12][13][14] Eye exposures to these secretions causes general eye irritation and potentially more severe effects such as conjunctivitis and keratitis.[15] First aid consists of flushing the area thoroughly with water; further treatment is aimed at relieving the local effects.
The living members of the Diplopoda are divided into fifteen orders in three subclasses.[16] The basal subclass Penicillata contains 160 species whose exoskeleton is not calcified, and which are covered in setae or bristles. All other milipedes belong to the Chilognatha in the strict sense.
The subclass Pentazonia contains the short-bodied pill millipedes, which are capable of rolling themselves into a ball ("volvation"). The subclass Helminthomorpha contains the great majority of the species.[17][18]
The subgroups of millipedes in phylogenetic sequence, from most basal to most advanced, are:
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Millipede | Table of Contents | Walkthrough
| Millipede | |
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| Developer(s) | Atari |
| Publisher(s) | Atari |
| Designer(s) | Dona Bailey |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| System(s) | Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, NES, Xbox Live Arcade, GameTap |
| Players | 1-2 |
| Preceded by | Centipede |
Millipede was Atari's answer to fans of Centipede and upset arcade managers alike. In response to rising play times and diminishing profits seen from the aging, yet popular Centipede machines, Atari developed a sequel of sorts that upped the challenge factor and eliminated many of the various strategies that players employed to increase their game play time. It was originally going to be called "Centipede Deluxe" but perhaps because Asteroids Deluxe did not fare so well, a new title was chosen.
Millipede introduces several new insects to the mushroom garden, including an inchworm that, once shot, slows the game down for a brief period of time. DDT bombs were present for explosion. Waves of insect swarm were introduced as bonus rounds. Mushrooms could be turned in to indestructible flowers by passing beetles. And the entire forest would undergo a period of growth and decay every so often, defeating player's efforts to control the arrangement of the stage.
Among the things that Millipede did not change was the intuitive control of the trackball. Millipede wasn't nearly as well received as its older sibling, and thus did not see nearly as many home conversions. Atari systems and early Nintendo systems received the only official conversions made.
Note: The following story is taken directly from the Millipede arcade flyer which advertised the game to arcade distributors. This is an example of a rare instance where a company provided a background story in it's advertising materials.
Once upon a time in a kingdom set serenely under a warming sun, there lived a youth of royal lineage who was drawn to all of nature's beauty. He roamed the forest glade days upon end with constant admiration for what the gods had showered down upon the land. Gladly would he trade the wealth of his forefathers for the riches and tranquility that nature offered him.
Wise to the essence of life--but unwise the ways of the world--he refused the royal crown of his dying father. "I will protect the realm with all my body and soul, Father, but I will never rule its living creatures, be they beast or human. The love of the gods will see to their daily regulation. I will see to their welfare."
With his last gasp of strength, His Majesty cursed his son, "You are a foolhardy lad. The destruction of the realm is in your hands."
The populace mourned the death of their King and awaited the succession of his son. Before the crowds, the youth proclaimed, "In the name of goodness and humanity, I set you--my loyal subjects--free to live in communion with the wonders of nature. From this point forward, you shall call me Archer. I will defend your new way of life till my death."
A roar of cheering from the masses greeted his words, but all was overshadowed by a tumultuous thundering in the skies. A cloudburst followed with torrents of rain that beat wickedly upon the land. The crowd dispersed to seek shelter from the downpour.
The Archer looked out beyond the horizon. He knew only too well the revengeful signs of his father. "I beseech thee to turn back your rage from the netherworld and stop this onslaught." As if in laughing response, the ground below him began to tremble. And the day ended in utter darkness.
The sun rose upon the land in its usual manner. But the wains of the past night had produced a new, uncontrollable growth...a sudden nurturing of nature that caused everything except that which was human to grow to sizes beyond belief.
From deep within the glade, a mighty Millipede began advancing steadily--flanked by a marauding band of oversized insect rogues. Towering spiders, beetles, earwigs, bees, dragonflies, mosquitos and inchworms swept over the land to wreak their special havoc. They trampled through giant mushrooms, poisoning some and transforming several into deceivingly pretty flowers that would surely thwart the arrows of any opponent. Sometimes they raided in waves...winging down in fierce assaults.
The Archer realized that, even from the grave, the spirit of his father had commanded these creatures to act in unison against him...these same creatures whom he had loved so and had loved him. Saddened by true to his pledge, he took up his bow and arrow to defend his homeland from these aggressors. He would meet their challenge. With truth and goodness truly on his side, he would be victorious and restore the natural order and beauty of life to the kingdom.
| Millipede | |
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| Developer(s) | Atari |
| Publisher(s) | Atari HAL Labs Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Ed Logg |
| Release date | Atari 2600: 1984 (NA) |
| Genre | Fixed Vertical Shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single player 1-2 players alternating |
| Age rating(s) | N/A Arcade Atari 2600 |
| Platform(s) | Arcade Atari 2600 Atari 8 Bit Atari ST Nintendo Entertainment System Game Boy (As part of Arcade Classic 2: Centipede / Millipede) |
| Input | Arcade: Trackball, Button Atari 2600 Joystick |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Millipede is an arcade game released in 1982. It is the sequel to Centipede. The game was later ported to the Atari 2600 and Atari's line of home computers, and then later to the NES and the Gameboy.
It is similar to Centipede, in that you use your bug blaster to shoot down creepy crawlies roaming around your mushroom garden. However, things have changed and got worse. Besides your main nemesis now being the millipede, some of the new species of bugs you'll have to contend with are beetles that turn your mushrooms into indestructible flowers, inchworms which can give you a momentary slowdown of action for you to blast some bugs, mosquitoes that zigzag downscreen as they leave mushrooms in their wake, and dragonflies that move in diagonals. A new offensive weapon is the DDT Bomb that's placed randomly about the garden: hit one of these and it explodes into a cloud that consumes whatever bugs happen to be caught in its cloud, netting you more points.
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| Millipedes | |||||||||
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| Scientific classification | |||||||||
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Helminthomorpha | |||||||||
They can easily be told apart from centipedes. Centipedes move faster, and only have one pair of legs per segment.
Millipedes were among the first animals to colonize the land.
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   | Most leggy millipede rediscovered - BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Most leggy millipede rediscovered |
 | Secretion of benzaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide by the millipede ''Pachydesmus crassicutis'' (Wood) - Secretion of Benzaldehyde and Hydrogen Cyanide by the Millipede Pachydesmus crassicutis (Wood) -- Blum and Woodring 138 (3539): 512 -- Science |
| | Diplopoda DeBlainville in Gervais, 1844 (Class) - SysTax - database query |
| | link - CNN.com - Fossil millipede found to be oldest land creature - Jan. 27, 2004 |
| | millipedes - Gallery of millipedes | Tarantula breeding |
| | blue Polydesmid millipede - Arachnids near Coyolillo - part 3 (Veracruz, Mexico) |
| | Large Example - Picasa Web Albums - RANDY |
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