By Wes Porter ——Bio and Archives--July 1, 2014
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The Centipede was happy quite, Until the Toad in Fun Said, 'Pray which leg goes before which?' And worked her mind into such a pitch, She lay distracted in the ditch Considering how to runWhat happens when a centipede loses a leg or two? Frankly, we don’t know. The immortal Goon Show was ever ready to help out though. In one episode, it was suggested, “Here, swallow this tin of Leggo, the wonder leg-grower recommended by all good centipedes.” Such remains unconfirmed by any scientific studies. The centipede species of northern gardens are only a few millimetres long. Tropical species, however, can attain considerably larger lengths, which makes them the largest terrestrial arthropod predators. The Amazonian giant centipede, Scolopendra gigantea, may be over 30cm long. It is known to eat lizards, frogs, birds, mice and even bats, catching the latter in midflight. The venom of these larger species may cause some pain but are not fatal. Smaller millipedes are also probably harmless, although again tropical giant species should be avoided. While these do not sting or bite, they have irritating secretions that can cause pain, itching and blistering. One such, the giant African millipede, Archispirostreptus gigas, is the longest known at some 34 centimetres and as thick as a man’s thumb. It makes an unpleasant crunching sound when stepped upon. All millipedes have two pairs of legs to each body segment of which there may be as few as 11 to over 100. Actual legs usually number from three-dozen to as many as 400, although one unusual species may sport up to 750. So unfortunately another legend falls by the wayside, although a cute tale is told of a female millipede who cried, “No, no, a thousand times no!” and crossed her legs. Millipedes, however, are believed to have been the first animals to walk on dry land. Diplodologists – scientists who study millipedes – tell that the centimetre-long Pbeumodesmus newmani lived 428 million years ago. It probably fed on primitive plants related to modern ferns and club mosses, which resulted in the oldest known piles of poop, left behind in rocks of Wales. Identified by Dianne Edwards of the University of Wales, Cardiff, and her colleagues in Nature, the 412 million-year-old coprolites are packed with the spores of the plants it feasted upon. Even more remarkable was Arthropleura living in Upper Carboniferous, 340-280 million years ago. It holds the record as the largest known land invertebrates of all time, reaching an impressive length of up to 2.6 metres. Not something you would like to discover wending its way around your basement floor.
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Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.