How many legs does a centipede have?

Answer

Dear Dylan,

When you look at millipedes and millipedes you see that they consist of segments. Now the number of legs a millipede or millipede has depends on the number of segments. A centipede has 1 pair of legs per segment and a millipede has 2 pairs of legs with the exception of the first four segments. In millipedes, the first segment (segment behind the head) is legless and the three following each have 1 pair of legs. In millipedes, the first pair of legs has been transformed into so-called poison legs, so that these legs no longer serve as walking legs. The last two segments also have no walking legs. In addition, the stage in which the millipede is located has an effect on the number of legs. And to make it even more complicated within one and the same species even the number of legs can differ. You already notice that we cannot use one number to answer your question. So the number of legs actually depends on the species, the individual, the sex and usually also depends on what stage it is in. For adult millipedes these numbers are between 30 and 382 feet (e.g. Gonibregmatus plurimipes ) and for millipedes this can be up to 750 feet (e.g. the species Siphonophora millepeda and Illacme plenipes ), but this is exceptional as most species have between 30 and 400 feet.

kind regards,

Johan