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Sticker of Desert millipede
Bug card No. 0398 of 1,500

Desert millipede

Orthoporus ornatus
Eats: Leftovers and dead thingsCentipedes and millipedesDeserts and dry placesNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The desert millipede is a big, long millipede that lives in the deserts of North America. It is usually dark brown, sometimes yellow, and has lots and lots of legs. Most of the year it hides deep in damp soil, and it comes up after the rain.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. Insects have six legs, and this cousin has many, many more.
Lives in
Deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico
Length
7.6 to 23 cm (3 to 9.1 in)
usually about 100
Top speed
about 0.48 km/h (0.3 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting
It does not bite, but if you bother it, it curls up and lets out a juice that can irritate your skin. Better to just watch it.
What does it eat?
It eats dead plant bits, bark, bacteria and the remains of dead desert shrubs. It even swallows tiny bits of sand and rock.
For real!Photo of Desert millipede
Picture by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Desert millipede about 23 cm long (9.1 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)A house cat about 50 cm (20 in)
as long as 7 toy building bricks in a rowas long as 1.5 bananas end to endcould run across a dinner table in 7.5 seconds

How big is Desert millipede compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Each of its body segments has two pairs of legs.

2

It can live for more than ten years.

3

It sheds its skin every time it grows a new body segment.

4

It comes to the surface only once a year, and then it eats and eats to store energy for its time underground.

5

When the ground gets hotter than about 35 degrees, it stops moving around on the surface.

you asked

Most asked questions about Desert millipede

?Is the desert millipede poisonous?

It can let out a juice that irritates skin when it is disturbed, so look but do not touch, and wash your hands if you do.

?How big is a desert millipede?

Most are about 10 centimetres long, but some grow to more than 20 centimetres.

?How long does a desert millipede live?

It can live for more than ten years.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Orthoporus ornatus
Group
Centipedes and millipedes
Family
Spirostreptidae
Classification
Diplopoda > Spirostreptida > Spirostreptidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Orthoporus ornatus (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 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Public domain, 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.

More from the same group: Centipedes and millipedes

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