BIOL 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Elytron, Millipede, Myriapoda
10 May 2016
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Document Summary
The myriapoda ( many feet ) includes the wormlike chilopoda (centipedes) and. They and the insects have mandibles as their main mouthparts, but it is thought that this represents convergent evolution rather than shared ancestry. Centipedes and millipedes look somewhat alike, but centipedes have one pair of legs per segment and are fast-running predators with poison claws. Despite the fact that their name implies they have 100 legs, centipedes commonly have about thirty. Millipedes have two pairs of legs per segment and are slow-moving, inoffensive eaters of detritus (decaying organic matter). Millipedes may be slow, but they"re still almost half a billion years ahead of us the first evidence of terrestrial arthropods is a millipede burrow from 450 million years ago. Insects are certainly the most important invertebrates on land. 75% of all named species of animals are insects, and the weight of the insects of the world probably exceeds the weight of all other kinds of animals, including humans.
