Centipedes & Millipedes

Ants

Centipedes & Millipedes

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Centipedes

Description: Centipedes are worm-like arthropods with a flattened body and a distinct head that bears a pair of long antennae. Jaws containing venom glands are located on the first body segment behind the head. Centipedes, or “100-legged worms,” have only one pair of legs on each body segment. Depending on the species, centipedes can vary in length from one to 12 or more inches, with the total number of legs varying from 10 to 100 or more. The most common species of centipede found in Oklahoma is two to six inches long. Centipedes can range in color from yellowish-brown, dark brown, to iridescent reddish-green. 

Life Cycle:  Centipedes are usually found in damp, dark areas under stones, leaf mulch, or logs. Inside homes, centipedes can be found in basements, closets, crawl spaces, or any area where other insects are found. Most adult centipedes spend the winter in secluded, moist areas. They lay their eggs in the soil during the spring and summer. Some centipedes can live as long as five or six years. While some species of centipedes can add segments and legs as they mature, others are born with their complete set of body segments and legs.

 

Symptoms: Centipedes are active and rapid predators, feeding on just about any small arthropod; however, they do tend to prefer small insects. Centipedes hide in dark cracks and crevices during the day and search for their prey at night. After using their jaws to capture their prey, they inject a venom into the animal to kill it. Some species of centipedes are considered venomous to humans, but their bite is not sufficiently toxic to be lethal to children or adults. A bite from any of the smaller species found in Oklahoma usually produces a moderate reaction that, at worst, is similar to a bee sting. The bite of the larger species may produce local inflammation, redness, and swell­ing – and occasionally systemic symptoms that disappear in four to five hours. Contrary to myth, a centipede walking on your skin will not kill the tissue or cause the skin to rot. They do, however, have relatively sharp claws on their legs that can scratch.

Millipedes

Description: Millipedes are worm-like, slender, hard-shelled arthro­pods with rounded body segments. Millipedes differ from centipedes in that they have one pair of short antennae on the head and two pairs of legs on each body segment. They are commonly called “thousand leggers,” even though they may only have 60 to 400 legs. Millipede species vary in length from one to two or more inches. They also vary in color from reddish-brown to black. When dead or disturbed, millipedes tend to curl themselves into a tight coil. Although harmless, many mil­lipedes have defensive glands that emit a foul-smelling fluid when disturbed or handled.

Habitat: Most millipedes feed on damp and decaying vegetation and leaf litter, although some species will attack the roots and lower leaves of living plants. They spend most of their life in the soil. Adult millipedes spend the winter in soil, debris, and leaf litter found under trees.

Life Cycle: Female millipedes begin to lay their eggs in the spring. It has been reported that a female millipede can produce as many as 300 eggs at one time. These eggs are laid in the soil in several small clusters of 20 to 100 eggs. In about three weeks, the eggs hatch into tiny larvae with only three pairs of legs. As millipedes grow, they molt from seven to ten times, adding additional body segments and legs with each molt. Millipedes stop growing when they reach sexual maturity. Adults may live for two to five years. It is thought that we only have one generation of millipedes per year in Oklahoma.

 Symptoms: Millipedes occasionally wander from their moist living places into homes, but they usually die because of the dry conditions and lack of food. However, there are some occa­sions when millipedes invade houses in large numbers. In these cases, we often see millipedes migrating, in an uphill direction, as their food supply dwindles or their living areas become too wet or too dry. In Oklahoma, these migrations often result during drought periods following a build-up of the millipede population during favorable spring conditions.

Millipedes are also attracted to lights, and it is common to have them migrate to lighted swimming pools, patios, driveways, or industrial areas. Even though they may invade houses, they pose no threat. They do not bite, sting, cause structural damage, contaminate foodstuffs, or eat fibers.

House Centipede

Description: The body is 1 to 1-1/2 inch long, but its 15 pairs of legs make it appear to seem much larger. The body is grayish-yellow with 3 dark stripes extending along the full length of the back. The legs are long in proportion to the body size, and they have alternate light and dark bands running around them.

Habitat: Though house centipedes are found both indoors and outdoors it is the occasional one on the bathroom or bedroom wall, or the one accidentally trapped in the bathtub, sink, or lavatory that causes the most concern. Centipedes prefer to live in damp portions of basements, closets, bathrooms, unexcavated areas under the house and beneath the bark of firewood stored indoors. House centipedes feed on small insects, insect larvae, and on spiders. Thus they are beneficial, though most homeowners take a different point-of-view and consider them a nuisance.

Bite: Technically, the house centipede could bite, but it is considered harmless to people.