Other Small Creatures

Centipede (Common)

Debbie — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:27:10 +0000

The Common Centipede is also known as the Brown Centipede and is a fast-moving, venomous, insect-like creature which comes under the group of animals called ‘arthropods’. An arthropod has jointed legs, an external skeleton and a segmented body. The Brown Centipede can be found throughout England in gardens under stones, under piles of leaves and in the barks of trees. It can also be seen in garden sheds and in damp places in houses.

The Common Centipede is around two to three centimetres in length and has a long chestnut-brown coloured body. Its body is divided into approximately fifteen segments and each segment holds one pair of legs. The front pair of legs is equipped with claw-shaped fangs. The fangs have poisonous glands which the Common Centipede uses to paralyse prey. The legs at the rear end of the centipede’s body are nearly as long as the antennae and they project out lengthways and not sideways like the other legs. Sometimes it is difficult to tell which part is the front end of this creature.

The female Common Centipede lays her eggs in soil and the young hatch out after about a week. The young centipedes only have fourteen pairs of legs when they first hatch, but they eventually grow a new pair of legs as they develop into fully grown adults. It can take up to three years for Common Centipedes to reach maturity.

Harvestman

Debbie — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:28:11 +0000

The Harvestman is a brown insect-like creature with a compact oval-shaped body and long spindly legs. The Harvestman can be found throughout the country in fields, woodlands, parks and gardens around April to October. It can often be seen on walls and on fences in the day resting with its legs spread apart.

The Harvestman can be five to eight centimetres in length and its legs are around five centimetres long. It has four pairs of legs and not three pairs, like true insects have. The second pair of legs is longer than all the other legs and the Harvestman uses these legs to feel its surroundings. It can also shed a leg when it is threatened and the disconnected leg can move and twitch around on the ground which helps to distract a predator. The Harvestman has two very small eyes.

The female Harvestman lays her eggs in moist soil and the eggs can lie dormant over the winter till the following spring. The young look like mini adults when they hatch out of the eggs, but their legs are a lot shorter. It takes two to three months for the young to develop into mature adults with their characteristically long spindly legs.

Millipede (Flat-backed)

Debbie — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:29:24 +0000

The Flat-backed Millipede is a slow-moving insect-like creature that has a flat segmented body and it belongs to a group of animals called ‘arthropods’. An arthropod has jointed legs, an external skeleton and a segmented body. The Flat-backed Millipede can be found throughout the country in warehouses, outbuildings and in gardens under leaf litters, in compost heaps and in rotting or dead wood.

The Flat-backed Millipede can grow between two to four centimetres in length and is normally dark brown, but sometimes it can be almost white in colour. It has a body that is divided into approximately fifteen segments and each segment holds two pairs of legs. The legs can sometimes be white, even if the top part of the body is brown. The Flat-backed Millipede has a short round head with two long sensitive antennae which help the millipede to find food.

The female Flat-backed Millipede lays her eggs in moist soil and the young hatch out after about two to three weeks. The young millipedes look almost grub-like when they first emerge. They have very few body segments and only three pairs of legs. Eventually they develop into mature adult Flat-backed Millipedes with all the fifteen segments and thirty pairs of legs.