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Nyssodesmus (Polydesmus) python
If you hike around the cloud forests in Costa Rica and pay attention to the floors, high chances are that you will find these millipedes. Adults are whitish brown with two dark longitudinal stripes along their backs and have 20 body segments. Their diet consists mainly of rotting wood so they are important decomposers in forest ecosystems. N. python defense mechanisms consist of the protection of their hard, calcified exoskeleton, the ability to roll into a spiral in response to disturbance, and the production of a toxic liquid containing cyanide that they can project up to 30 cm. Females store sperm from several males before fertilizing the eggs. Some males will ride on top of the female for days to avoid other males from copulating with the female.
Santa Elena Cloud Forest, Costa Rica.
Spotted on Apr 9, 2014
Submitted on May 11, 2014
2 Comments
OK ;-)
I suggest Phyton Millipede as common name.