Do centipedes really have a hundred legs and millipedes a thousand?
Although centipede literally means “one hundred legs” and the word millipede “one thousand legs”, these terms are really just exaggerations. Centipedes (members of the class Chilopoda) have one pair of legs for every segment of their body. The number of segments ranges from 15 to 173. Millipedes (Diplopoda) have two pairs of legs for each of their 20 to 200 body segments. So, while very occasionally a centipede with 100 legs may exist, a millipede never has more than 400. (Thank you, year 5 bug project – I knew you’d come in handy one day.) Emily Hamon, Lane Cove No, it is just a saying because when you feel them crawling across you it feels as though a hundred/thousand little legs are crawling over you. Unity Wilson, Queenscliff In fact the centipede in our gardens will have 42 legs (21 segments each with 2 legs) but some rarer varieties might have about 200. Millipedes can have anything up to 750 legs, but common species number between 80 and 400. You have the feeling that, when scie
