millipede

noun

1. Any of many elongated arthropods, of the class Diplopoda, with cylindrical bodies that have two pairs of legs for each one of their 20 to 100 or more body segments.

   “The ſaid leaves alſo ſtamped with honey and brought to the forme of a cataplaſme, cure the bloudie-falls or night-blains: but tempered with wine, they heale the bitings of dogs, as alſo of the Millepeed, which the Greeks call Seps, a long worm with hairie feet, doing much harme to cattaile eſpecially; for looke where it biteth, the place preſently ſwelleth and putrifieth.”

   “With one or two exceptions, male millipedes make direct contact with the female and transfer sperm via a pair of modified front legs (gonopods) which have been charged with semen from the genitalia situated towards the rear of the body.”

   “When alive, millipedes maintain tension in these^([intersegmental]) muscles and are therefore difficult to straighten out when coiled.”

   “Soil millipedes (Diplopoda) possess a specific gut microbiota that differs from microbial communities in soil and leaf litter.”

   “Working with her colleague Henrik Enghoff, the two discovered several specimens of the same fungus on North American millipedes right there in the Natural History Museum’s collection.”