page_title: Myriapoda
section_title: Millipedes
hierarchical_section_title: Myriapoda / Classification / Millipedes
caption_attribution_description: Tachypodoiulus niger
context_page_description: Myriapoda is a subphylum of arthropods containing millipedes, centipedes, and others. The group contains over 16,000 species, most of which are terrestrial. Although their name suggests they have myriad legs, myriapods range from having up to 750 legs to having fewer than ten legs.
  The fossil record of myriapods reaches back into the late Silurian, although molecular evidence suggests a diversification in the Cambrian Period, and Cambrian fossils exist which resemble myriapods. The oldest unequivocal myriapod fossil is of the millipede Pneumodesmus newmani, from the late Silurian. P. newmani is also important as the earliest known terrestrial animal. The phylogenetic classification of myriapods is still debated.
  The scientific study of myriapods is myriapodology, and those who study myriapods are myriapodologists.
context_section_description: Millipedes form the class Diplopoda. Most millipedes are slower than centipedes, and feed on leaf litter and detritus. They are distinguished by the fusion of each pair of body segments into a single unit, giving the appearance of having two pairs of legs per segment. Around 12,000 species have been described, which may represent less than a tenth of the true global millipede diversity. The name "millipede" is a compound word formed from the Latin roots millia ("thousand") and pes (gen. pedis) ("foot"), although millipedes typically have between 36 and 400 legs. One species, Illacme plenipes, has the greatest number of legs of any animal, with 750. Pill millipedes are much shorter, and are capable of rolling up into a ball, like pillbugs.
caption: Tachypodoiulus niger, a millipede
exif: {}