| Striped Millipede (Ommatoiulus sabulosus (Linnaeus, 1758)) |
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Scientific name: Ommatoiulus sabulosus (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: Striped Millipede French name: Iule Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Diplopoda Order: Julida Family: Julidae Size: Males: 15 to 28 mm; Females :21 to 60 mm; They can have up to 55 segments. Habitat: Damp and shady places. Litter. Various habitats with a preference for sandy places and pine forests. Food: Detrivorous, it feeds on plants: Moss, algae, dead leaves, fruits, fungus, consumed by climbing on plants. Reproduction: Females, which may live more than one year, can lay more than one lot of eggs in the litter. Males show a periodomorphosis phenomenon. They temporary loose their copulatory ability and recover it after a moult. Geographic area: All Europe but missing in the Iberian Peninsula, in Greece and in many Mediterranean Islands. |
The Striped Millipede has a shiny black cylindrical body contrasting with the white legs. It shows two reddish dorsal stripes which are missing on the Ommatoiulus sabulosus aimatopodus subspecies. It has about 100 pairs of legs with two pairs on each body segment (only one pair per segment on the four first segments). It continues to moult when at the adult stage, getting one new segment, then two pairs of legs, on each new moult. It can coil up, head in the centre and legs on the inner side, when it is threatened. It can also secrete a repulsive fluid. The last segment shows a pointed tip at the rear on the upper side. It is called telson. This telson is clearly curved upwards at the apex. This is one mean to tell Ommatoiulus sabulosus aimatopodus apart from Tachypodoiulus niger which also shows a pointed telson but straight. Cylindroiulus londinensis and Cylindroiulus broti, which are about the same size, do not show a pointed telson. |
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I have been able to observe many Striped Millipedes during my holidays in southern France, following some rainy days. My only former contacts with this species were by finding the French common name in crosswords. |
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You can see the huge number of legs on this picture, normally one pair per segment on the four first segments and then two pairs per segments on the following ones. I have also observed many Striped Millipedes climbing on vegetation. |
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I had previously listed these observations as Tachypodoiulus niger when I found an interesting post of one member of the insecte.org forum (in French). Having noted the criteria about the shape of the telson, I have had a close look to all my pictures. Here is the only one with the right angle of view. The apex of the telson is clearly curved upwards. So this confirms the Ommatoiulus sabulosus species. |
André Bon October 2015