A popular Millipede photo I took in 2005.
Millipede
mil•li•pede (noun) or mil•le•pede
a small plant-eating arthropod with a tubular body made up of segments. Most segments have two pairs of legs. Class: Diplopoda
These guys have been everywhere recently – took this photo last week!
Welcome to the mon@rch nature blog and I hope you join us in some of our nature adventures through the Allegany State Park area!
I am a naturalist, field biologist and nature photographer from the Western New York area. I have started exploring nature writing through this blog and it truly has been fun sharing my numerous adventures with everyone. Thanks to the many other authors that help me with my post and they will be sharing some of their nature explorations.
I have always had a latent interest in birds and photography and have been lucky enough to find time to explore these interests over the last few years. I am very thankful to the Cattaraugus County Bird Club for getting me started, sharing their wealth of knowledge and for their wonderful programs. And many thanks to Tom for letting me share some of my adventures and photos on the Monarch Nature Blog.
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Really sharp pictures. I particularly like the recent one, showing how the bug molds its body around the variations in the tree.
17 September 2007 at 9:09 pm
I love bugs!!!
These photos are amazing…
I have a tendancy to take photos of bugs with wings but the crawlers are so cool.
I shall look under and around a wee bit more.
The butterflies will be leaving soon maybe I will get through the Winter by looking for beatles and crawlers! I’m excited just thinking about it.
Thanks Mon@rch. I feel inspired.
Sherry
17 September 2007 at 9:12 pm
They look so clean for living amongst the dirt. I like millipedes better than centipedes. They move slower. Really nice pictures!
17 September 2007 at 9:30 pm
@ Wren – thanks and if you go to flickr I have a close up recent shot of it also!
@ Sherry – thanks and I make it through winter knowing the warblers will be back in the spring! Glad you were inspired!
@ Erie – much easier to find also!
17 September 2007 at 9:32 pm
Sorry Tom, but the millipedes totally creep me out. Remember that Indiana Jones movie where they were trapped in the cave and those giant millipedes were crawling over them and up under the female co-star’s hair? I had to cover my eyes because I kept imagining how horrible it would be to have them crawling all over me!
I can handle a monarch caterpillar or maybe even a (small) snake, but not millipedes and don’t know what it is about them either….
17 September 2007 at 9:53 pm
Ruthie – no worries and they are very funny looking! I have that DVD you are talking about! It’s funny, I have been seeing these guys everywhere the past few weeks! More-so than I think in years past!
17 September 2007 at 9:57 pm
They were everywhere when Don and I was at the Nature Pilgrimage. They even got into the cabin.
17 September 2007 at 10:01 pm
Great pictures. In Africa (Zulu and Xhosa), a millipede is known as a shongololo – derived from the word to “roll up”.
17 September 2007 at 10:26 pm
nice millipede 🙂
17 September 2007 at 10:40 pm
I don’t like them. They creep me out. All those legs, it is un- natural. ha ha ~nita~
17 September 2007 at 11:22 pm
How big arethose things?
Cindy
18 September 2007 at 12:29 am
I’m sorry. I am not a bug person.
Please excuse me while I say, “Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
18 September 2007 at 12:44 am
G’Day,
I found your pics via martha’s blog, which I read regularly. We have these little blokes here too. They don’t bother me but their big cousins the centipedes send shivers down my spine. I sometimes find big red centipedes (ten inches long) underneath things I move in my yard. Yuck!
18 September 2007 at 2:30 am
OK now those do sort of give me the shivers…
18 September 2007 at 6:44 am
Hey, what do they eat? mon@rch, if you haven’t seen it check out Microcosmos by the same guy that did Winged Migration. I have if you can’t find…
18 September 2007 at 7:38 am
I’m not wild about milipedes but this one is very attractive. I’d take a photograph of one, too, if there weren’t any bees or butterflies around.
18 September 2007 at 9:06 am
Beautiful in a creepy sort of way. 😉
18 September 2007 at 10:57 am
I’m amazed that you’re getting to see so many big ones – the only ones I’ve ever seen in the wild are the 2-3cm ones. These are pretty amazing.
18 September 2007 at 11:36 am
Tom, are you a blogger who flickrs or a flickr who blogs 🙂
18 September 2007 at 12:28 pm
Ohh, I love the second photo of it on the tree bark. Very nice, Tom!
18 September 2007 at 4:38 pm
@ Toni – This was a great year of them for sure! Today I found two of them hiding under the bark together!
@ Shutterbug – Thanks and shongololo is a very cool name! I didn’t know that!
@ Barb – thanks
@ Nita – that’s alright, I will love them for you!
@ Cindy – hmm, 4-5 inches!
@ Susan – same as nita, I will love them for you!
@ Linda – Thanks and the Centipedes probably wouldn’t be as big of a start here on my site as the Millipedes!
@ Jayne – is it cold where you are at? Only kidding!
@ Jennimi – leaves, etc. will check out, thanks!
@ Mary – Thanks and bee’s would be last on my list! Not for any reason, just because!
@ Lynne – thanks
@ Martydx – hmm, wonder where they end up going!
@ Ric – I use flickr for my blog but use to just do flickr before fell in love with blogging!
@ Pam – thanks and turned out great!
18 September 2007 at 4:51 pm
I’m embarassed to say, these brainless little invertebrates have better coordination than I have. How can they manage so many legs?
18 September 2007 at 4:52 pm
http://canwebefrank.blogspot.com/2007/09/for-monarch.html
I just posted something for you!
-Kaz
18 September 2007 at 8:27 pm
Dakota loves millipedes, he is always looking for them. That photo is great!
18 September 2007 at 11:13 pm
Nice shots of what is probably the American Giant Millipede, Narceus americanus. I was surprised to learn that some people rear millipedes, as described at http://www.earthlife.net/insects/milipede.html
19 September 2007 at 7:50 am
Your pictures are magnificent. I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable getting that close, so I bow down to you!
19 September 2007 at 11:44 am
Cool shot Tom, my son scours the woods looking for these little guys.
19 September 2007 at 11:46 pm
@ Grace – maybe their coordination is because of their many legs!
@ kaz – thanks and already checked out!
@ Veery – Thanks and who doesn’t love them! well, besides those above!
@ cestoady – thanks and they are easy to raise! just get some leaves for them to munch on!
@ Lisa – Thanks and I love your shots also! They are just little (ok maybe bigger than normal) bugs! They are very slow moving you know!
@ Bernie – thanks and they do rock!
20 September 2007 at 8:23 am
They are pretty cool!One thing I can’t stand is when I get centipedes in my basement-No thanks!
20 September 2007 at 6:58 pm