Miriápodos: What are, characteristics and examples

Miriapods are a subfilus of arthropod animals, under which there are four classes that are:

• Diplopoda class: Popularly known as millpiés, they usually have two pairs of legs for each segment and there is very striking color.
• Chilopoda class: called Cympiés and Scampendra, they have only one pair of legs for each body segment. They have very long antennas of 12 segments, and a couple of tweezers with poison glands called forcipulas.
• Symphyla class: They have twelve pairs of legs, they are blind and small. They have the second maxillary pair united in a lip.
• Pauropoda class: They are the smallest miriapods of just 2 millimeters, they live under the leaf litter and are blind.

In this article you can learn more about what arthropods are: characteristics, classification and examples.

Below we present the characteristics of the Miriápodos:

• Miriápodos are characterized by being long, and with a body in which two tagmas are distinguished: a multisegmented trunk with several appendices leaving them, and the head.
• Despite being called Ciepiés and Milpiés, They do not have this exact number of legsbut rather, the term refers to whether the segment has one or two pairs of legs per segment.
• They have a Antennas pair.
• Not everyone has eyesbut those who do are simple and formed by ocellos.
• In the trunk they have small holes called spiracles They connect with the outside, and through them they breathe transporting the air through branched ducts of a so -called tracheal system, to the whole body. This type of breathing is called tracheal breathing.
• Those who belong to The Chilopoda class have powerful poisons that leave the aforementioned forcipulas, which are modified legs. The poisons are not lethal for man, but certain species can pierce the skin with the forcipulas and cause a lot of pain along with reactions of the bite such as inflammation, mild bleeding or itching, and in allergic individuals they can wear anaphylactic shock. In smaller dams, the bite is paralyzed, or lethal. A larger the downtown, the bite and poison stronger.
• They have special sensory organs called Tömösváry organsring -shaped and located behind the antennas. With them they can detect vibrations, aromas and humidity levels.

Discover in this article more animals with tracheal breathing: examples and names.

Scolopendra tigre (Scolopendra Hardwickei)

It measures 20 to 25 centimeters long, and has only one pair of segment articulated. Alternate the colors orange and black to alert the danger What do they mean. The bite of its forcipulas causes numbness and swelling. It is found in India.

Copper cepiés (Lithobus forficatus)

Measures 2 to 3 centimeters long and lives between stones and trees bark. It has 15 body segments and lives in all types of ecosystems around the planet, such as beaches, forests and gardens.

African milpiés (Archyspirostreptus gigas)

It measures 20 to 28 centimeters long, which earns one of the places between the larger milpiés in the world. He lives in the tropical area of ​​Africa and can secrete irritating chemicals when he feels threatened.

Ciepiés de las Casas (Coleoptrata Scutigera)

It is one of the fastest invertebrates that exist, and is characterized by having Very long black and white alternated legsas well as compound eyes. It is originally from the Mediterranean region, but it has already been introduced to other parts of the world.

There are miriápodos for all the wet areas of the planet, but they abound more in Tropical and subtropical warm areas. They flee from the light and hide under rocks or litter, and they usually lack pigments. Those of tropical areas have bright colors. There may be certain cave species and also many underground.

The food in the Miriápodos varies from group to group.

• THE MILPIÉS: They are herbivorous animals, but almost never of live plant matter. They feed on decomposition and dead leaves. Occasionally, they can complement with decomposition animals, but they are mostly fitophagous.
• The Ciempiés: They are carnivorous predators who feed on insects and ringed worms called anélidos, and they can achieve this thanks to their poisonous forcipulas. Some scolopendra quilopods of the genre Scolopendra spp. They can capture vertebrate species of considerable size such as mice, bats, frogs or lizards.
• Symphiles: They feed on the waste of other organisms, but also of roots, seeds and root hairs, so they can become a big problem in agriculture.
• Pouropods: They are omnivorous animals, and since they live between soil and leaf litter, they are important decomposers of organic matter. They feed on animal carrion and dead vegetation.

You may be interested in what anélids are: classification and examples.

They are animals that They put eggs. They have separate sexes. The fertilization is internal, where males produce a spermatophore, which is a capsule full with sperm, and place it on the ground so that the female deposits it by itself within itself to finish fertilization.

Now that you know what Miriápodos, their characteristics and examples are, we invite you to read this other ecology article about the bivalves: what are, characteristics and examples.

If you want to read more articles similar to Miriápodos: What are, characteristics and exampleswe recommend that you enter our biology category.