Poisonous, Venomous, or Harmless?

Abstract

Millipedes and centipedes were among the first animals to inhabit the earth. Their fossil record dates from the late Silurian period 430 million years ago. Their common names, derived from Latin, mean 1000 feet and 100 feet, respectively. Until 2021, when a new species of millipedes with 1306 legs was discovered, no millipede had 1000 legs. 1 Marek P.E. Buzatto B.A. Shear W.A. Means J.C. Black D.G. Harvey M.S. et al. The first true millipede-1306 legs long. Sci Rep. 2021; 1123126 Crossref Scopus (9) Google Scholar Millipedes have 2 pairs of legs per body segment (Figure 1). Centipedes have 1 pair of legs per body segment, and many centipedes have >100 legs (Figure 2). All centipedes also have modified legs on both ends. The first pair of centipede legs serves as claws or pincers (forcipules) for restraining victims and injecting venom, and the terminal pair (mating claspers or genital forceps) serves in reproduction. Figure 2The house centipede Scutigera coleoptrata has 15 pairs of long, delicate legs, which enable it to speed across floors, walls, and ceilings. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photographer: Filip Vidinovski. Public domain, no copyright permission required. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File.House_centipede_Scutigera_coleoptrata_on_the_wall.tif. View Large Image Figure Viewer Download Hi-res image