Millipedes Gallery

Defence mechanisms of different insects, chromolithograph, published in 1897

Species: 1) Lobster moth (Stauropus fagi); 2) Jersey tiger (Euplagia quadripunctaria); 3) Eastern eyed (Alaus oculatus); 4) Hairy sweep (Canephora hirsuta); 5) Eyed hawk-moth (Smerinthus ocellatus); 6) Brazilian Lithosiide (Silk-worm, Bombycidae, cocoon); 7) Crepuscular burnet (Zygaena carniolica); 8) Firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus); 9) Small emperor moth (Saturnia pavoniella, cocoon); 10) Spharoniscus cingulicornis (caterpillar); 11) Megalodon (extinct); 12) Bombardier beetle (Pheropsophus jessoensis); 13) Devil's coach horse beetle (Ocypus olens); 14) Acronicta aceris; 16) Imperial moth (Eacles imperialis, caterpillar); 17) Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha goettingensis); 18) Oil beetle (Meloe variegatus); 19) Puss moth (Cerura vinula, caterpillar); 20) Andromeda satyr (Cithaerias andromeda); 21-22) Eyed hawk-moth (Smerinthus ocellatus, caterpillars); 23) Cream-spot tiger (Arctia villica); 24) Cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae) and caterpillar (15); 25) Swallowtail (Papilio machaon, caterpillar); 26) Blue-winged grasshopper (Oedipoda caerulescens); 27) Hoplia argentea; 28-29) Elephant hawk moth (Deilephila elpenor, caterpillars); 30) Mediterranean hawk-moth (Hyles nicaea, caterpillar); 31) Pteronymia; 32-33) Orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines) and pupae (34-35); 36) Pill millipede (Glomeris limbata).
Defence mechanisms of different insects: I) Threat posture: 1, 13, 16, 19, 25, 28, 29. - II) Signal colors and drawings for deterrent: 2, 3, 5, 26. - III) Protection colors (imitation): 7, 8, 15, 23, 24, 30. - IV) Artillerymen: 12, 19. - V) Deterrent secretions: 17, 18. - VI) Defensive hairs and spikes: 11, 14. - VII) Furl: 10, 14, 36. - VIII) To feign death: 27. - IX) Masking: 4. - X) Concealment: 20, 31, 32 - 35. XI) Color timing: 21, 22. - XII) Cocoon protection: 6, 9. Chromolithograph, published in 1897

A flat-backed millipede (Parafontaria laminata)

A flat-backed millipede (Parafontaria laminata), about 2.5 cm long. Swarms of them occur every eight years in central Japan, so dense that they can cause train wheels to lose traction. They are beneficial in that they feed on soil and leaf litter, thus like earthworms helping decomposition and the cycling of soil nutrients. Nagano Prefecture, Japan

A close-up of a three foot long Ichthyostega from the Late Devonian Period

A close-up of a three foot long Ichthyostega from the Late Devonian Period 365 million years ago in what is today the Canadian Arctic. Flanking the Ichthyostega are Rhacophyton ceratangium, ancient shrubs that are thought to be one of the earliest ferns. The reddish fruit-like nodules attached to the fronds on the right are sporangia, enclosures in which spores are formed. The large tree-like trunk on the far right is the base of a young Archaeopteris.
In the foreground are prehistoric arthropods, a millipede on the left and on the right cockroaches on trunk of a decaying Lycopsid. Arthropods had been walking the Earth for 40 million years before vertebrates like Ichthyostega began venturing ashore.
Ichthyostega was one of the earliest tetrapods, a descendent of lobe-finned fishes and ancestor of amphibians. Ichthyostega had lungs and seven-toed limbs that allowed it to move about the shallow waters and shores of swamps and floodplains. It was among the first terrestrial vertebrates

© Walter Myers/Stocktrek Images