page_title: Glomeris marginata
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Glomeris marginata / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: Glomeris marginata almost completely rolled up into a ball
context_page_description: Glomeris marginata is a common European species of pill millipede. It is a short millipede, rounded in cross-section, which is capable of rolling itself up into a ball when disturbed. This behaviour is also found in the pill woodlouse Armadillidium, with which G. marginata is often confused.
context_section_description: Glomeris marginata lives in leaf litter as well as in grass and under stones, with a preference for calcareous soils. In domestic gardens, they are most frequent along hedgerows and at the bases of old walls, where the mortar has started to crumble, leaching lime into the soil. It is less prone to desiccation than other millipedes and can be found in the open, even in sunny weather, although they are more active at night and prefer more humid areas. G. marginata feeds on old, rotting leaves, despite the higher nutrient content of freshly–fallen leaves, and G. marginata can be responsible for recycling a significant proportion of the nutrients in the leaf litter.
  Predators of Glomeris marginata are reported to include the starling, the common toad, the woodlouse spider, and hedgehogs. As well as rolling up into a ball for protection, G. marginata produces noxious chemicals to ward off potential predators, as many millipedes do. One to eight drops of a viscid fluid are secreted, containing the quinazolinone alkaloids glomerin and homoglomerin, dissolved in a watery protein matrix. These chemicals act as antifeedants and toxins to spiders, insects and vertebrates, and the fluid is sticky enough to entrap the legs of ants. Having completely discharged these chemical defences, it can take up to four months for the millipede to replenish their supplies.
caption: G. marginata just beginning to unroll from its defensive posture
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