this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
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Found it dead in my dishes

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[โ€“] girl@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They can actually range from roughly 30-350 legs! Fun fact

[โ€“] over_clox@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

As far as I'm aware, if it's got upwards of 350 legs, those are called millipedes, not centipedes.

Also, I've never in my life seen either a centipede or a millipede with legs anywhere near that long, so my mind is still stuck on WTF is that damn thing?

Any which way you go, I'd say kill it with fire! Even though it's already dead, I wouldn't wanna take any chances if it happens to have eggs in it or possibly a parasite or anything...

[โ€“] girl@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The difference between centipedes and millipedes actually has to do with how many pairs of legs they have per body segment. Centipedes have one pair per segment, millipedes have two pairs per segment. The centipede with 354 legs is indeed a centipede (: the millipede with the most legs actually tops out around 750 legs! Pill *millipedes seem to be the smallest millipede with only 14-42 legs!

Also, if you google pics of centipedes, there is indeed a species with terrifyingly long legs just like this picture, the house centipede.

*pill bugs != pill millipedes, pill bugs are crustaceans apparently, cool!

[โ€“] Communist@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, a pill bug is not a type of millipede, they're actually crustaceans, and not closely related.

Pill bugs used to be one of the few exclusively terrestrial crustaceans, but now almost all insects are classified as crustaceans, so, i'd have to double check the phylogenies.

[โ€“] girl@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Ah, apparently pill bugs and pill millipedes are different! Thank you for the correction.

[โ€“] over_clox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Huh, interesting. Well today I learned a little more about creepy-crawlies than I expected. Also, a pill bug is considered a type of millipede? Well hell, I never would have guessed that.

[โ€“] Communist@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, a pill bug is not a type of millipede, they're actually crustaceans, and not closely related.

Pill bugs used to be one of the few exclusively terrestrial crustaceans, but now almost all insects are classified as crustaceans, so, i'd have to double check the phylogenies.

[โ€“] over_clox@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Oh? Okay then, well either way I've learned something new today. Interesting, not like it's going to change the price of weed in Colorado for my daily life, but thanks for sharing. ๐Ÿ‘

[โ€“] girl@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

I was actually very surprised to learn about the pill bug as well, if Iโ€™d known they were millipedes as a kid I would not have found them so cute and fun lol

[โ€“] sxan@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago

So while I'm sure there are thousands of different kinds of milli- amd centipedes, in general:

  • Millipedes have shorter legs
  • Millipedes are slow. Like, slow enough to see them move unlike centipedes, creepy bastards
  • Millipedes are vegetarians, and while crushing them can be bad news, they don't bite
  • Millipedes look kinda like long pill-bugs, whereas centipedes look like hell had a nightmare and it was given flesh and form
[โ€“] echodot@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd say a small asteroid impact will take care of it. Something about the size of the tanushka event seems appropriate. Just be sure to pre-warn all of the neighbours within a 500 mile radius.

[โ€“] over_clox@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Small? We need larger, something like 10.5 elephants in size!