Round-Backed Millipedes

juliformia

Round-Backed Millipedes are fascinating creatures with lots of tiny legs that help them move around! They curl up into a ball when they feel scared, making them look like little round shapes in the leaf litter.

Lebensraum: They usually live in damp, dark places like under logs, rocks, or leaf litter in forests.

Aussehen

The Round-Backed Millipedes has a distinctive, elongated cylindrical body, often dark brown or black, sometimes with lighter stripes. Its smooth, hard exoskeleton gives it a shiny appearance, differentiating it from flatter centipedes. It moves slowly, with pairs of tiny legs under each segment.

ReichAnimaliaStammArthropodaKlasseDiplopodaOrdnungSpirostreptidaFamilieHarpagophoridaeGattungKtenostreptus

Round-Backed Millipedes

Kategorie

Invertebrate

Seltenheit

Common

Gefahr

1/5 · Sehr gering

Snaps

Mach den ersten Snap!

Interessante Fakten

Millipedes were among the very first animals to walk on land, over 400 million years ago!

Some millipedes, found in places like California, can actually glow in the dark!

The fastest millipede still only crawls at about 1.6 meters per minute, taking its time!

Unlike insects, millipedes continuously add new body segments and pairs of legs as they grow!

Besondere Fähigkeiten

Round-Backed Millipedes can coil into a tight spiral because it protects their soft underside from predators like birds and shrews.

Round-Backed Millipedes has special glands that release foul-smelling or irritating chemicals to deter attackers.

Round-Backed Millipedes can burrow into soil and leaf litter using their many legs to escape danger and find moist hiding spots.

Maße und Details

Average Length: 2.5 cm
Number Of Legs: 200
Segments Count: 50

Ernährung und Fütterung

These creatures are decomposers, helping clean up by munching on dead plant material.

Hauptnahrung

decaying leaves
rotting wood
fungi
moist plant debris
microscopic algae

Nahrungssuche

Foraging

Ökologische Zusammenhänge

eaten by

American Robin

Turdus migratorius

Robins commonly feed on millipedes found in gardens and leaf litter.

eaten by

Masked Shrew

Sorex cinereus

Shrews often hunt and consume millipedes among their invertebrate prey.

eaten by

Violet Ground Beetle

Carabus violaceus

Some ground beetles are predatory and will include millipedes in their diet.

Merkmale

Einzelgänger

Einzelgänger leben den größten Teil ihres Lebens allein und interagieren mit Artgenossen nur zur Paarung oder zur Aufzucht der Jungen.

Graben

Grabende Tiere heben Tunnel und Kammern im Erdboden aus und nutzen diese unterirdischen Strukturen als Unterschlupf, zur Jagd oder zur Fortpflanzung.

Pflanzenfressend

Dieses Merkmal kennzeichnet Lebewesen, deren Ernährung vollständig oder hauptsächlich aus pflanzlichem Material besteht.

Wald

Waldlebensräume sind terrestrische Lebensräume, die von dichtem Baumbestand dominiert werden und eine große Vielfalt an Pflanzen- und Tierarten beherbergen.