General introduction

Abstract

Abstract Millipedes do not as their name suggests have a thousand legs. Indeed the ‘world champion’ Illacme plenipes has only(!) 375 pairs (Enghoff 1990), and most have fewer than fifty pairs. Nevertheless, it is the presence of so many legs arranged in two pairs per body segment which is their most characteristic feature. The presence of these diplosegments separates the Class Diplopoda (millipedes-sometimes millepedes or millipeds) from the three other classes of Myriapoda, the Chilopoda (centipedes), Symphyla, and Pauropoda, all of which have only one pair of legs per segment (Fig. 1.1.). It has been estimated that there are approximately 10,000 described species of millipedes in the world (Hoffman 1979; IUCN 1983). These range in size from as little as 2 mm to 30 cm in length.