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Millipede

Anoplodesmus saussurii

Photo by Wild Things
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

Black millipede with yellow marks.

Habitat:

Seen around flowering gardens during rainy season.

Species ID Suggestions

millipede

Anoplodesmus saussurii

Comments (16)

Beautiful Pict Satyen, and great discussion Emma and Frazer :-)
I think so. Great spotting! i will remove my ID!!
Wow! Thanks for the amazing discussion and help with the ID, guys. I really appreciate the time and efforts put in by both of you. Thanks! Finally, We are good with Anoplodesmus saussurii?
Asiomorpha coarctata, an Asian millipede commonly mistaken for the N. American Harpaphe haydeniana because of the similarity in coloration. A good way to tell them apart is to look at the paranota - the lateral edges of each segment. In Asiomorpha, the paranota are sharp edged and acute, pointing backward.
Each species must be considered independently, and in the case of those flowers, their invasions are likely documented in the scientific literature.
Frazier,while completely agree with you, range is something which needs to be redefined. i have noticed so many times in the case of Wild Flowers Of San Franscisco,90 percent of the flowers are native to the medittaranean,
@Emma anyone can upload something to youtube and call it anything. We need to use authoritative sources. There are at least two components to identification readily available to the community: visual cues and range information. The latter must be used with the first. Individuals within a single species can exhibit wide variability in looks. Conversely, two distinct species can look very similar -e.g. Asiomorpha coarctata-, especially when looking at digital images only.
Satyen ,here is another link which could Clarify more. http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2011/02/12/millipede-from-india/ Either Cyanide Millipede is an introduced species or there is some confusion with another similar kind found in Asia.Or it could be both.
Frazier, I found a you tube video of this millipede in Chembur , India.So it is found in India. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glCunlwuhr0
Can't be I'm afraid "Harpaphe haydeniana (the yellow-spotted millipede, almond-scented millipede or cyanide millipede) is a millipede found in the moist forests along the Pacific coast of North America"--Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpaphe_haydeniana The number of legs which I counted as about " 30 " matches with the info in the wiki pedia link. The range of course is questionable. But nowadays I have observed that organisms are also found in places other than their native range.
We have a yellow spotted millipede that is similar. Like most animals that bite, sting, taste bad or smell bad, yellow-spotted millipedes have a warning coloration. The bright yellow spots on a black background serve to warn potential predators that they can protect themselves, much like a yellow and black paper wasp warns that it can sting. If a small animal survives a meeting with this millipede, it will avoid it next time it meets one. Interestingly, all other millipedes (of the same species and different species) seem to be immune to this toxin. http://home.sandiego.edu/~yellow/yellowmillipede.html
I counted about 28 to 30 legs on one side. Total of about 60 legs.What are these yellow droplets? The cedar waxwings here have red wax droplets on their wings ,which look like these, except for the color of course.
Photographed
PublishedAugust 11, 2012

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