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Millipede, leech?

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10.6917, -84.7561

Field Notes

Description:

Dark brown, going fast, look like it had legs but not sure, skinny end was the head, 12 cm. long, when I moved it it wiggle and lift the head, did not rolled into itself, when I place it outside it grabbed the stick with the back end like a leech.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (3)

I have always wanted to know what this is, I did not see your comments until today!! S Frazier: as I took the pictures it was moving very fast, the rings in it's body were moving forward to make it go, never came away from the ground (like an inch worm) I looked at the pictures and what I thought were legs were just small pieces/pebbles of dirt, it was not behaving like a worm, it was more like a centipede but I knew it was not. It behaved like a leach when I moved it outside because it stuck to the stick I was using from one end only like leaches do?!
I can't really see the legs. The body segments don't look symmetrical to me. So this argues against it being a millipede. It does look like a leech but I'm not sure about how it moved when you said "going fast". Was it moving like an inch worm, moving the front forward, and then the back forward, next to where the front was temporarily anchored? There are some aquatic worm-like organisms with small legs, but this animal looks terrestrial...
Photographed
PublishedSeptember 3, 2012

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