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A Tale of Two BugsMany bugs, such as spiders, earwigs, and cockroaches, appear frightening or harmful. Others, such as ladybugs, butterflies, and ants, don't look quite as threatening. But looks can be deceiving. In the case of centipedes and millipedes, knowing which bug is dangerous and which is not is a good way to stay safe. Centipedes and millipedes are both arthropods. That means they both have jointed legs, segmented bodies, and an outside shell called an exoskeleton. From a distance both centipedes and millipedes look like worms, but with many legs and a pair of antennae on their heads.
 Despite these similarities, a closer
look shows that millipedes and centipedes differ in many ways.
The name millipede means "a thousand feet."
In fact, no millipede has a thousand feet. Most segments of a millipede's body have two pairs
of legs, and some species have up to 115 pairs of legs (230 legs
total).  The name centipede means
"a hundred feet." But this arthropod actually has more
feet than the name implies. Most segments of a centipede's body
have one pair of legs, and some species have as many as 170 pairs
of legs (340 legs total).Millipedes live in damp, dark places and eat plants, usually dead ones that they find rotting on the forest floor. Millipedes are not fighters. When a millipede is disturbed, it will usually coil up in a ball and wait for danger to pass. Centipedes, on the other hand, primarily eat snails, slugs, worms, and insects, which they kill with a poison stored in their jaws behind their head. If threatened, a centipede may bite. A few types of centipedes have a poison that can be harmful to people.
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