Diplopoda

Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a result of two single segments fused together. Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical or flattened bodies with more than 20 segments, while pill millipedes are shorter and can roll into a tight ball. Although the name "millipede" derives from Latin for "thousand feet", no species was known to have 1,000 or more until the discovery in 2020 of Eumillipes persephone, which can have over 1,300 legs. There are approximately 12,000 named species classified into 16 orders and around 140 families, making Diplopoda the largest class of myriapods, an arthropod subphylum which also includes centipedes and other multi-legged creatures.

Diplopoda

Golovatch, S.; Mikhaljova, E.; Chang, H. Hedin, Marshal Ioannou, N. VandenSpiegel, D., Golovatch, S. Chen, C.; Golova… · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
millipedePBDB
Sits inside
DignathaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda

Time the record covers

At least 426 million years on record.

The record covers at least 426.7 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 432.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Silurian — about 10 of 401 occurrencesDevonian — about 17 of 401 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 203 of 401 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 9 of 401 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 1 of 401 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 3 of 401 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 0 of 401 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 401 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 401 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 0 of 401 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 3 of 401 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 57 of 401 occurrencesPaleocene — about 0 of 401 occurrencesEocene — about 28 of 401 occurrencesOligocene — about 8 of 401 occurrencesMiocene — about 46 of 401 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 401 occurrencesPleistocene — about 11 of 401 occurrences442–427 Mya — about 9 occurrences427–412 Mya — about 11 occurrences412–397 Mya — about 3 occurrences397–383 Mya — about 2 occurrences383–368 Mya — about 2 occurrences368–353 Mya — about 5 occurrences353–339 Mya — about 5 occurrences339–324 Mya — about 5 occurrences324–309 Mya — about 114 occurrences309–294 Mya — about 76 occurrences294–280 Mya — about 7 occurrences280–265 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences265–250 Mya — about 1 occurrence250–235 Mya — about 3 occurrences206–191 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences191–177 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences177–162 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences132–118 Mya — about 3 occurrences103–88 Mya — about 54 occurrences88–74 Mya — about 3 occurrences74–59 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences59–44 Mya — about 1 occurrence44–29 Mya — about 29 occurrences29–15 Mya — about 47 occurrences15–0 Mya — about 20 occurrences426.7 Mya11.7 ka442 Mya0 Mya

401 occurrences of Diplopoda on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

401 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

60 formations

Carbondale — 41.34°N, 88.39°WCarbondale — 41.29°N, 88.19°WCarbondale — 41.22°N, 88.21°WKladno — 49.71°N, 13.21°ECowie — 56.95°N, 2.20°WJoggins — 45.70°N, 64.45°WLower Saarbrucker layer — 49.32°N, 7.07°ELower Saarbrucker layer — 49.28°N, 7.03°ELower Saarbrucker layer — 49.38°N, 7.25°ELower Saarbrucker layer — 49.46°N, 7.91°EDundee Flagstone — 56.67°N, 2.77°WDundee Flagstone — 56.57°N, 2.73°WDundee Flagstone — 56.48°N, 3.12°WDundee Flagstone — 56.77°N, 2.48°WBallagan — 55.84°N, 2.07°WBallagan — 55.79°N, 2.21°WUpper Saarbrucker layer — 49.26°N, 7.00°EUpper Saarbrucker layer — 49.34°N, 7.17°EUpper Saarbrucker layer — 49.32°N, 7.07°EUpper Saarbrucker layer — 51.01°N, 7.14°EBaruungoyot — 43.49°N, 101.13°EBaruungoyot — 43.32°N, 99.83°EFarrington — 51.30°N, 2.43°WFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WBerthelsdorf — 51.12°N, 12.50°EPennant — 51.71°N, 3.91°WThermalsinterkalk — 48.41°N, 9.55°EDundee — 56.67°N, 2.79°WDundee — 56.77°N, 2.48°WWettin — 51.63°N, 11.95°EGuanling — 24.71°N, 104.33°EDownton Castle Sandstone — 51.37°N, 2.73°WLegetet — 0.18°S, 35.27°EFoel — 53.00°N, 3.00°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.13°WShuler — 32.71°N, 96.71°WMaltsevo — 54.40°N, 87.54°EGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°W

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The named rock units Diplopoda has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 36 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 208 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Diplopoda and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Diplopoda and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

4,669 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 197 sites for Diplopoda, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

120 references

Each of the 401 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 108 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Diplopoda

Credit
Golovatch, S.; Mikhaljova, E.; Chang, H. Hedin, Marshal Ioannou, N. VandenSpiegel, D., Golovatch, S. Chen, C.; Golova…
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Diplopoda was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDignatha through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Gervais 1844)