Race Field Week 01 - milipede "bones"

Okay, so insects don't have bones, actually. By they do have exoskeletons -- skeletons on the outside. In the case of this expired milipede, that fact is very apparent.

Milipedes are a common out here. I don't believe they bite, which would make them among the few things that don't bite, sting, or poke humans around here. That fact alone makes me like them.

Millipedes have an interesting relationship with Aphanogaster ants. The millipedes live with the ants. I believe Burr Williams said the millipedes eat the decaying food down in the ant nest. In return for this easy dining, the millipede will help protect the ants with its defense by emitting a foul smell. Burr has also seen millipedes accompanying an Aphanogaster ant nest relocation, done usually at night, by the light of a full moon. No, really.

UPDATE: I had the story a bit wrong, so I asked Burr to tell it to me again. In his words:

we have a small species of army ant that only moves its nest site in the dark of the moon. blind snakes travel with them, for the tiny snakes eat their diseased eggs and pupa. when the army ants find the aphanogaster ants hole, they go inside, the aphanogaster ants leave the hole, the millipedes release liquid from their spiracles (holes on their sides) which contains a tiny bit of cyanide, which makes the army ants leave. after the gas clears, the aphanogaster ants go back inside

What a sight that must be!

And another correction, from FBer Chris Cherry: As a kid, his brother took some millipedes home in his pockets and had welts to prove it. Perhaps from the stuff they excrete? Ah, alas, yet another desert defense mechanism to be wary of.

Outside Links:

• Search results for millepede on the Sibley Nature Center site.