Tachypodoiulus niger

Tachypodoiulus niger
T. niger walking over moss
T. niger in defensive posture
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Myriapoda
Class:	Diplopoda
Order:	Julida
Family:	Julidae
Genus:	Tachypodoiulus
Species:	T. niger
Binomial name
Tachypodoiulus niger (Leach, 1814) [1]

Tachypodoiulus niger, known variously as the white-legged snake millipede or the black millipede, is a European species of millipede. It is very similar to other species such as Cylindroiulus londinensis, from which it can be reliably distinguished only by studying the shape of the telson.^[2] It occurs in the British Isles, Spain, France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic,^[1] and is especially common on chalky and limestone soils.^[2]

T. niger has a roughly cylindrical shiny black body, with around 100 pairs of contrasting white legs^[3] on its 41–56 body segments.^[2] It lives in leaf litter, under bark or in moss, and feeds on encrusting algae, detritus^[3] and sometimes fruit such as raspberries.^[2] Predators of T. niger include the centipedes Lithobius variegatus and Lithobius forficatus^[3] and hedgehogs.^[4]

T. niger is most active from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise, although in summer it also becomes active in the afternoon.^[5] Like many millipedes, T. niger coils itself into a spiral, with its legs on the inside and its head in the centre, when it is threatened,^[2] but it can also flee with sidewinding movements.^[6]

References