Weird Science's Creepy-Crawlies: Flat-backed Millipede (Polydesmus angustus)
New for 2012! In a regular column on the blog, we've got a proper scientist in to talk about the insect world.
The scientist in question is my sister Bee, who, as well being a trained zoologist, also takes some very nice shots of things with lots of legs.
Millipedes are a widespread and fairly common group of animals often found amongst leaf litter and under rocks and stones.
There are around 10,000 species worldwide, of which less than 50 may be found in the UK.
The flat-backed millipede is one of the most common and easiest to recognise due to their flattened body shape. They may grow up to 20 mm long and has 30 pairs of legs.
Historically, millipedes are the oldest known land animals with fossil records dating back to 428 million years ago.
Fossils have also shown a species of millipede believed to be the largest ever land-living invertebrate with a length of over 2.5 metres.
Millipedes are generally slow moving with fairly weak mouthparts as they feed solely on dead and decaying plant material.
They are also a good friend to the gardener as they play an essential role in the recycling of nutrients in the soil much like the earthworm.
Unfortunately, the millipede has many predators including insects, spiders, frogs, toads, birds and small mammals.
In order to deter these predators, some millipedes have developed their own defence mechanisms.
The flat-backed millipede has glands near the back of its body where is can produce the deadly poison hydrogen cyanide.
When threatened the millipede will release the toxin which can kill, or at least sicken, any predator that gets too close.
To prevent harming itself, the millipede will temporarily close its breathing pores until the toxin has dispersed.
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Daniel Smith - a long time ago, in a galaxy far away just north of Watford, Daniel fancied himself as a scientist but turned out to be the worst scientist since that bloke who mapped out all those canals on Mars that turned out to be scratches on his telescope's lens. Luckily, he is now not working on the Large Hadron Collider inadvertently creating a black hole that would swallow the world but is safely behind a desk writing this blog, bringing you the fantastical underbelly of nature... weird science.
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What an amazing photo - Bee sure is an expert. I think you should do a whole series of her photos. A detailed picture like this gives substance to all those interesting facts listed below it. It just makes you realise how little you know about all these creatures that surround us all the time.
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