The current population consists of three species that are nearly identical in appearance, Narceus americanus, N. The genetic history of the Narceus millipedes tells the story of resurgence northward and eastward as the ice receded. The frozen breath of the Arctic advance forced mobile animals toward increasing warmth and killed everything else, including millipedes. The glaciers of the Pleistocene Epoch extended southward ten times on a cyclic basis over the last million years―the Holocene Epoch began with the last retreat ten thousand years ago. However, the characteristic behaviors and genetic history of the complex of species that comprise the Narceus genus provide some insight. The motivation to move somewhere else will remain speculative absent a series of improbable controlled experimentation. A consequence of their peripatetic nature is a diaspora of species-cum-subspecies that have migrated from their southern Appalachian Mountain homeland in every direction. They are so common in the Appalachian Mountains, that the hill people named them “iron worms” probably because of the annular red segments that divide the body longitudinally like so many iron bands. Not so Narceus americanus, the millipede that trundles about with coordinated waves of footsteps with apparent purpose along the trail as if on expedition. While they are prolific, exposing their habitat usually necessitates digging down a few inches to the hypogeal realm where they compete for nutrients with mites, springtails, and the various other worms that do not have legs at all. Potpourri : Most millipedes are concealed by the leaf litter of the temperate forest understory that they consume as herbivores. Class: Diplopoda, Order: Spirobolida, Family: Spirobolidae. The trio of species names reflects a complex of divergent evolution in eastern North America. gordanus – The generic name may derive from the from Greek nark from narkoun “to benumb” in reference to their excretion of defensive chemicals. Common Name : Millipede, iron worm, worm millipede – A direct use of untranslated Latin for one thousand ( mille) feet ( pedis) conveys the idea that it is a worm with a large number of legs, each of which ends in a foot.
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