Yellow-spotted millipede
The yellow-spotted millipede is a shiny black millipede with bright yellow spots along its sides. The yellow is a warning: when it is bothered, it lets out a liquid that smells like almonds and tastes horrible to hungry animals. It lives on the damp floor of big forests.
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Fun facts
Its almond smell comes from a tiny bit of a strong poison called cyanide that it uses to protect itself.
Females have 31 pairs of legs, and males have 30 pairs.
It can live for two to three years.
Very few animals eat it, but one kind of ground beetle has learned to hunt it.
It is often found in redwood forests, sometimes many of them close together.
Most asked questions about Yellow-spotted millipede
?Is the yellow-spotted millipede poisonous?
It makes a liquid with cyanide to scare off enemies. It is not dangerous to people, but it can irritate your eyes or mouth, so wash your hands after touching it.
?How many legs does the yellow-spotted millipede have?
Females have 62 legs and males have 60.
?Why does it smell like almonds?
Its defence liquid contains cyanide, which smells like almonds.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Harpaphe haydeniana
- Group
- Centipedes and millipedes
- Family
- Xystodesmidae
- Classification
- Diplopoda > Polydesmida > Xystodesmidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Almond-scented millipede, Cyanide millipede
Where the facts come from
- Harpaphe haydeniana (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 (c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0, 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.
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