Largest millipede species

The largest millipede species is the African giant black millipede Archispirostreptus gigas, which is native from Mozambique to Kenya in the lowlands of East Africa. The average length for this species is 16–28 cm. However, the longest confirmed specimen was a fully adult individual owned by Jim Klinger of Coppell, Texas, USA, measuring 38.7 cm long, 6.7 cm in circumference and with 256 legs.

Despite their name, which translates as "a thousand feet", no known species of millipede possesses as many as a thousand legs (no more than 750 have been recorded from any species). However, they are characterized by possessing not one but two pairs of limbs per body segment (hence their zoological name – Diplopoda, meaning "double-limbed"). This feature readily distinguishes them from their equally familiar relatives the centipedes, which only possess one pair of limbs per body segment.

Also, whereas millipedes are predominantly herbivorous, centipedes are predominantly carnivorous.