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Millipedes, myriapods of the class Diplopoda, contain approximately 12,000 described species organized into 16 extant orders and approximately 140 families. This list is based on Shear, 2011, [1] sorted alphabetically by order and taxonomically within order. Note: The names of millipede orders end in "-ida"; suborders end in "-idea".
Approximately 12,000 millipede species have been described. Estimates of the true number of species on earth range from 15,000 [8] to as high as 80,000. [9] Few species of millipede are at all widespread; they have very poor dispersal abilities, depending as they do on terrestrial locomotion and humid habitats.
Polydesmida (from the Greek poly "many" and desmos "bond") is the largest order of millipedes, with more than 5,000 species, [2] [3] including all the millipedes reported to produce hydrogen cyanide (HCN). [4] This order is also the most diverse of the millipede orders in terms of morphology. [5]
Polydesmidae is a family of millipedes in the order Polydesmida. [1] This family includes more than 240 species in more than 30 genera. These millipedes have a mostly Holarctic distribution that extends south not only to Mexico and North Africa but also as far as Java .
Julidae is a family of millipedes in the order Julida, containing more than 600 species in around 20 genera. [2] Its members are largely confined to the Western Palaearctic, with only a few species extending into the Oriental and Afrotropical realms. [2]
Most species have 26 to 32 body segments (including the telson) behind the head, with the number usually fixed within species. These millipedes range in length from 3.5 mm to 42 mm, although most species are 10 mm to 25 mm long. They are usually drab in color, ranging from various shades of brown to unpigmented, but some feature distinct ...
Although the name "millipede" is a compound word formed from the Latin roots millia ("thousand") and pes (gen. pedis) ("foot"), millipedes typically have between 36 and 400 legs. In 2021, however, was described Eumillipes persephone , the first species known to have 1,000 or more legs, possessing 1,306 of them. [ 28 ]
Callipodida are long and narrow millipedes, up to 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in length with 40-60 body segments. A dorsal groove is present running down the mid-line of the body, and many species are ornamented with longitudinal crests or ridges.