Python millipede
The python millipede is a big, flat-backed millipede from the rainforests of Costa Rica. It is yellowish tan with brown or black stripes. Some people think it looks like a human backbone walking along the forest floor.
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Fun facts
It can grow up to 10 centimetres long, as long as a grown-up's hand is wide.
You often find two together: a male rides on the back of a female for a long time, so no other male can get close to her.
It lives from the seashore up to about 365 metres high, and in some places there are lots of them.
Most asked questions about Python millipede
?How big is the python millipede?
It can grow up to about 10 centimetres long.
?Is the python millipede dangerous?
No. It does not bite or sting, but it is good to wash your hands after touching any millipede.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Nyssodesmus python
- Group
- Centipedes and millipedes
- Family
- Platyrhacidae
- Classification
- Diplopoda > Polydesmida > Platyrhacidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Large forest-floor millipede
Where the facts come from
- Nyssodesmus python (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by D. Gordon E. Robertson. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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