How Many Legs Does A Millipede Have? - AZ Animals

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In This Article How Many Legs Do Millipedes Have The Millipede Species With The Most Legs... Why Do Millipedes Have So Many Legs

Millipedes are known for their numerous legs. Just how many legs do these arthropods have? A thousand? The truth is that no species of millipede has ever been discovered with that many legs. There are around 12,000 species, divided into 16 orders, and 140 families. Such extensive variety can only mean one thing: a great number of different features, number of legs included.

Millipedes feature among the creatures with the most legs in the animal kingdom which makes them similar to centipedes, but not quite the same. One of the main differences between both myriapods lies in the number of legs nature has blessed them with.

So how many legs does a millipede have? Millipedes have four legs per segment, while centipedes only have two. The number of legs a millipede has depends on the species it belongs to. In spite of a passing resemblance between them, millipedes are not insects. Although both creatures belong to the phylum Arthropoda and are arthropods, as a result, millipedes belong to the subphylum Myriapoda while insects belong to the subphylum Hexapoda. The latter only have six legs, while those of the former can run into the hundreds.

How Many Legs Do Millipedes Have

Largest Millipedes - America Giant — Most species of millipedes have around 300 legs.
©Gerry Bishop/Shutterstock.com

The number of legs a millipede will have varies and is dependent on the species. Millipedes have four pairs of legs per segment, and the number of segments per species is around 25 to 100. Most species of millipede will have 300 legs, sometimes a bit more. The millipede species which has the most legs is Illacme plenipes, which is recorded as having had as many as 750 legs.

The Millipede Species With The Most Legs: Illacme plenipes

Illacme plenipes is a species of millipede that has the most legs, and comes the closest to reaching the 1000-leg milestone.

How many legs does a millipede belonging to this subgroup have? On average around 600 legs but like other millipede species, their leg count will vary. The average leg count of this species is twice the average of others. They were first discovered in 1926 but were never found again. It would take another 80 years before the species would be rediscovered.

This is Illacme plenipes, a pretty small millipede reaching a maximum length of around 3cm. Despite this, it has the most legs of any animal known, reaching a grand total of 750. pic.twitter.com/643Sp2HVKT
— GemmaBee 🦔 (@gemmabeepo) August 10, 2020

Illacme plenipes has up to 750 legs.

This species belongs to the genus Illacme, and the only other species in that genus is Illacme tobini. Even though they have more legs than other species their size is relatively small compared to other millipedes. A millipede’s leg count will depend on the number of its segments, not its body length. Illacme plenipes only grows to around 3 cm, and has a pale yellow color.

This species was first discovered in California, near San Bernardino. In the U.S and Canada, there are around 1,400 different species of millipedes. New millipede species are constantly being discovered, contributing to the belief that a species with as many as 1,000 legs will be unearthed.

Why Do Millipedes Have So Many Legs

Largest Millipedes - Close up of Millipede — Millipedes’ legs help them eat decaying matter and balance across soils.
©Piyapong pc/Shutterstock.com

Millipede legs give the animal a unique look, but also give them plenty of advantages. Millipedes are terrestrial and live their life by feeding on dead leaves and decaying matter. The legs help them traverse and move around a floor littered with natural debris. The soil’s dense habitat would be harder to traverse if the millepede did not have numerous legs.

Millipedes travel across the soil, but will also burrow beneath it. Their legs help them push their slender forms through the dirt or gain leverage when entering tight spaces. Millipedes’ numerous legs make them one of the most effective travelers across the forest floor.

Millipedes are born with just a few legs and gain more as they age. When they shed their exoskeletons they replace them with new ones, through a process called molting. After each molting period they grow a new segment, thus another pair of four legs. Centipedes experience this process, but only gain two legs per segment. That means the number of legs a millipede has will depend on its species type, and also its age. Some stop molting at a certain point; others go through the process throughout their lives, but only live for a short period.

About the Author

Emilio Brown

Spiders, snakes, and lizards are my favorite types of animals, and I enjoy keeping some species as pets. I love learning about the various wonders nature has to offer and have been a writer for 5 years. In my spare time, you can find me getting out into nature.

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