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Sticker of Arthropleura
Bug card No. 0052 of 1,500

Arthropleura

Name means: “joint rib, after the parts of its armour”
Eats: PlantsPrehistoric giantsPrehistoricNot a bug of today, but a prehistoric giant

Arthropleura was a giant millipede that lived more than 290 million years ago. It could grow longer than a grown-up person is tall. It is the biggest creature with a hard outer shell and jointed legs that has ever lived on land.

This one died out a very long time ago. It is one of the most famous bugs of prehistoric times, so it gets a place in Bug Wiki too.
Lived
344 to 292 million years ago
Fossils found in
Europe and North America
Length
2 to 2.5 m (79 to 98 in)
Top speed
about 4 km/h (2.5 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
It died out about 290 million years ago, so you will never meet one.
What does it eat?
Scientists are still not sure what it ate. Some early scientists thought it hunted small soft animals, but others doubt that and think it may have eaten plants.
For real!Photo of Arthropleura
Picture by Mickaël Lhéritier, Gregory D. Edgecombe, Russell J. Garwood, Adrien Buisson, Alexis Gerbe, Nicolás Mongiardino Koch, Jean Vannier, Gilles Escarguel, Jérome Adri. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

When did it live?

Before the dinosaurs
Age of dinosaurs
Age of mammals
540 million years ago25266today

How big is it?

How long is it?

Arthropleura about 2.5 m long (98 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)A house cat about 50 cm (20 in)A dog about 1 m (39 in)
as long as 14 bananas end to endcould run across a dinner table in 0.9 seconds

How big is Arthropleura compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its footprints have been found as fossils, and some of its trackways are up to 50 centimetres wide.

2

It lived in open woods near water and may have been able to live both in water and on land.

3

The first fossil was found in 1849 when workers were building a railway in Germany.

4

For a long time scientists thought it was a crab or a shrimp relative before they realised it was a millipede.

5

In 2024, scientists used special scans to see the head of young Arthropleura fossils for the first time.

you asked

Most asked questions about Arthropleura

?How big was Arthropleura?

At least 2 metres long and maybe more than 2.5 metres, longer than a bed.

?When did Arthropleura live?

About 344 to 292 million years ago, long before the dinosaurs.

?Was Arthropleura a centipede or a millipede?

It was a millipede, a giant cousin of the millipedes we find under logs today.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Arthropleura
Group
Prehistoric giants
Family
Arthropleuridae
Classification
Diplopoda > Arthropleurida > Arthropleuridae

Where the facts come from

  1. Arthropleura (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Mickaël Lhéritier, Gregory D. Edgecombe, Russell J. Garwood, Adrien Buisson, Alexis Gerbe, Nicolás Mongiardino Koch, Jean Vannier, Gilles Escarguel, Jérome Adri. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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