#millipede posts

[bestanimal]

Round 2 - Arthropoda - Pauropoda

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Pauropoda is a class of small, pale, millipede-like arthropods. They are composed of two orders: the Hexamerocerata with eleven pairs of legs and telescopic antennae and the Tetramerocerata with eight to ten pairs of legs and short, non-telescopic antennae.

Pauropods live in soil and leaf litter worldwide, feeding on mold, fungi, and occasionally the root hairs of plants. They are small, soft-bodied animals, only 0.3 to 2 mm in length. They do not have eyes, though they do have sensory organs which detect light. Long, sensory hairs called trichobothria are located throughout their body segments. Their anal plate is distinctive, helping distinguish between species.

Like centipedes, pauropods do not mate directly. Males place a sperm packet on the ground for females to find. Females deposit the fertilized eggs on the ground and subsequently abandon them. Tetrameroceratans hatch with three pairs of legs and Hexameroceratans with six, adding a new segment after each molt in a process called anamorphosis. Pauropods will continue molting even after their adult number of segments is reached, without adding any further segments or legs.

How do you feel about Pauropoda? (Remember to vote for your favorite animal within this group, not how you feel about the group as a whole!)

One or more of my favorite animals is in Pauropoda

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I dislike all of these animals

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Voting ended onNov 12, 2024

Propaganda under the cut:

Gif comes from this video. Look at him sniffin around!

The first pauropod discovered was found by Lord Avebury in his own garden in London in 1866. He wrote of the creature: “Pauropus huxleyi is a bustling, active, neat and cleanly creature. It has, too, a look of cheerful intelligence, which forms a great contrast to the dull stupidity of the Diplopods, or the melancholy ferocity of most Chilopods.” (Which, kinda rude, but y’know)

Only one fossil species is known, Eopauropus balticus, which was found in mid-Eocene Baltic amber.