DAILY BULLDOG • October 24, 2026
Millipedes and their faster-moving centipede cousins belong in Myriapoda, a subphylum of arthropods. Millipedes have two pairs of legs per segment while centipedes have one. Cherry millipedes are flat-backed millipedes (order Polydesmida) and can grow to a hefty (by millipede standards) 2 inches long. As their common name suggests, these millipedes are flat on the back surface, distinguishing them from the cylindrical snake millipedes (order Julida). Arthrophaga myriapodina, a fungus that infects them, begins when a spore lands on a millipede and grows internally. The millipede becomes uncharacteristically bold, abandons its favored leafy food source and habitat, and climbs to an exposed perch above the forest floor where it dies. ~ Declan McCabe