Subject: Unidentified Millipede
Location: South Carolina, USA
November 10, 2015 11:53 am
I have looked everywhere but I can’t seem to identify this millipede. Can you help?
Signature: Frank

Iron Worm

Dear Frank,
We quickly identified your Millipede as a North American Millipede, Narceus americanus-annularis-complex, thanks to images posted to BugGuide.  According to BugGuide, it is:  “Usually dark reddish-brown with red edges on each segment. The most commonly-seen large millipede in its range.”  Our favorite bit of information on BugGuide is that this Millipede is commonly called an “Iron Worm.”

2   I like This

Related posts:

Millipede Assassin Bugs from South Africa Millipede Flatbacked Millipede Millipede from Hawaii

Subject: This didn’t come out of my husband, did it?!
Location: Toilet in bathroom in Leawood, Kansas
September 21, 2015 5:50 pm
Dear Bugman,
I found this worm-like caterpillar bug in our toilet coiled up and was concerned it came out of my husband who had used the restroom prior to me. We put it in a plastic cup and it is still moving around, spitting up black ink here and there. Thoughts?!
Signature: Concerned about husband in KS 😉

Millipede found in toilet

Dear Concerned,
You should teach your husband to flush.  This looks like a Millipede, and we suspect it fell into the toilet, but we have researched some Soil Centipedes that are reported to crawl up human gastrointestinal tracts.

Thank you for your response!  Husband seems to be OK and millipede is safely outside of our home’s jurisdiction.

0   I like This

Related posts:

Yellow Spotted Millipedes Millipede: Exotic or Canadian??? Lesvian Millipedes Worm Millipede

Subject: bug eating lichen
Location: north east ohio
April 18, 2015 7:40 pm
doing photo-micrograph of lichen and came back to find this little critter eating my subject.
the little guy is maybe 1/64 ” long
location is north east Ohio time is mid April
depth of field is quite shallow with the rig I’m using so i couldn’t get any better angles to show the mouth parts or legs and i didn’t wan to kill it just for a photo.
Signature: LPainne

What’s Eating the Lichen????:  Pincushion Millipede

Dear LPainne,
Your image is beautiful, and we have no idea what this is, except that it looks larval.  We are posting your image and we hope that with the help of our readership, we will be able to provide an identification soon.

Update:  Pincushion Millipede
Thanks to a comment from Cesar Crash and a confirmation from Christopher Taylor, we now know that this is a Pincushion Millipede or Fuzzy Millipede or Bristly Millipede in the genus Polyxenus which is pictured on BugGuide where it states:  “Their typical habitats are generally described as litter and bark, also commonly collected from rocks and old walls” and “They are diurnally active, feeding on algal films and lichens, often in warm and dry conditions and direct sunlight.”

3   I like This

Related posts:

Millipede found in Toilet Millipede is Iron Worm Millipede Flatbacked Millipede

Subject: Mysterious Centipede
Location: Northwest Tennessee/ Henry County/ Springville
March 21, 2015 1:43 pm
Hey there Bugman!
I’m currently doing habitat research in pill bugs for my animal behavior class and came across this little fella during my observations. I’ve never seen a centipede with this coloration around my area. I’m too interested to wait till I get back to college to ask our entomologist. Please help!
Signature: Russ M.

Millipede:  Euryurus leachii

Dear Russ,
This is not a Centipede, but a Millipede which has two pairs of legs on each body segment.  We believe it may be Euryurus leachii based on this image we found on BugGuide.  The information page on BugGuide states:  “This is Euryurus leachii (Gray), a very colorful representative of the endemic North American family Euryuridae (Polydesmida). There are 2 genera in this family, Auturus & Euryurus, and the species occurring in Indiana is E. leachii. These are among the very few North American millipeds that one can deliberately try to find, because they occur almost exclusively in association with decaying hardwood logs & stumps near water sources ()creeks, seepages, etc.). They are rarely found in just leaf litter and almost never in association with pines. I’ll bet the log they found it under was an oak or another hardwood. (Dr Rowland Shelley).”  There are no reported sightings from Tennessee on BugGuide, but there are sightings from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and nearby Kentucky.

1   I like This

Related posts:

Millipede from the Philippines American Giant Millipede Millipede Millipede from Costa Rica

Millipede

Subject: Unidentified Bug
Location: Ecuador
October 20, 2014 5:49 am
Hi
I took this picture of a bug in the Amazon, Ecuador.
Can you help to identify it?
Regards
Ian
Signature: Ian Rowlings

Hi Ian,
This is a Millipede in the class Diplopoda.

1   I like This

Related posts:

Millipede from the Philippines American Giant Millipede Millipede Glowworm preys upon Millipede