Centipedes and Millipedes - Tylobolus Round-backed Millipedes
Tylobolus sp
Found this millipede--probably a Tylobolus castaneus--on a shady trail early one morning. But it wasn't alone!
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I found out a lot about glowworms and millipedes when I found these two together. The insect on the upper left is a Western Banded Glowworm (Zarhipis integripennis) larva. The millipede is probably a Tylobolus castaneus species of Round-backed Millipede. One of the things I learned is that glowworms are specialized hunters of millipedes. According to the expert, Darwin Tiernann, here's how the process goes: "When a millipede comes to within proximity of a [Western Banded Glowworm] larva, the larva races alongside it, mounts it, and throws a body coil around the millipede's front end. It then pierces the millipede's neck membrane with its mouth parts, and effects an action that causes the millipede to become quickly immobilized. The larva then burrows underground beside the millipede, only to emerge after a time to commence feeding. It consumes the soft insides of the millipede only, predigesting the millipede's tissues with its own enteric fluids, which it apparently regurgitates while feeding. Only the millipede's skeletal parts remain uneaten after the meal." Okay, then!
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Found this one on the trail and thought it was dead.
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But then it started moving!
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Here the millipede is rolled up in a defensive posture. This is probably a Tylobolus uncigerus species of millipede.
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And then he relaxed a little.
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When we looked at these, we couldn't tell what the balls were. It was suggested that maybe they were eggs. Turns out that millipedes make "fecal pellets." I guess that's what you do when you have to keep lots of legs busy.
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These millipedes have an ocular "patch" instead of an eye. Each of those tiny spots in the cluster on the head is a lens called an ocelli.
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Part of a millipede exoskeleton. Was it eaten by a glowworm? We may never know.
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