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Sticker of Garden lithobius
Bug card No. 1796 of 4,939

Garden lithobius

Lithobius melanops
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsCentipedes and millipedesGardens and meadowsLots of legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The garden lithobius is a small, flat, pale brown centipede with a darker stripe down its back. It hides under stones, logs and loose bark during the day. At night it comes out and runs around hunting on its many legs.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. Insects have six legs, and this cousin has many, many more.
Lives in
Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and New Zealand, in gardens, dry hillsides and light woods
Length
1.1 to 1.7 cm (0.43 to 0.67 in)
Top speed
about 1.1 km/h (0.68 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite

Watch out! Read about its close cousin on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
It hunts earthworms, springtails, small spiders, little millipedes and insect larvae. Sometimes it also eats things that are already dead.
For real!Photo of Garden lithobius
Picture by Alexis Lours. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Garden lithobius about 1.7 cm long (0.67 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 3 grains of rice in a rowit has about 30 legscould run across a dinner table in 3.3 seconds

How big is Garden lithobius compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

When it hatches, it has fewer legs than a grown-up. Each time it sheds its skin, it gets a new body part and more legs.

2

Its very last pair of legs ends in two little claws, one big and one small.

3

You can find it all year round, even in winter, hiding under stones and old wood.

4

It lives in lots of countries all over the world, from Iceland to Argentina and New Zealand.

you asked

Most asked questions about Garden lithobius

?How many legs does a garden lithobius have?

A grown-up has 15 pairs, so 30 legs. Young ones have fewer and grow more as they get bigger.

?What does a garden lithobius eat?

Small soil animals like earthworms, springtails, spiders and insect larvae.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Lithobius melanops
Group
Centipedes and millipedes
Family
Lithobiidae
Classification
Chilopoda > Lithobiomorpha > Lithobiidae
Lives on
Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Asia, Australia and Oceania
Also known as
European steppe centipede

Where the facts come from

  1. Lithobius melanops (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 Alexis Lours. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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