Latin name:  Tachypodoiulus niger

Size:  Up to 60mm

Distribution:  Found throughout most of the U.K.

Months seen:  All year round

Habitat:  Damp, shaded places such as leaf litter, under logs and sometimes in soil

Food:  Dead and living plant matter

Special features:  Black snake millipedes are long, slender creatures with around 40 cylindrical body segments, each with two pairs of legs.

To protect themselves from predators they can coil up, like a watch spring, and secrete a pungent fluid from their sides.

Related Pages

• Millipede Section
• Creepy-crawlies Section
• UK Safari News