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Millions of Migrating Millipedes
By Donald Lewis, Department of Entomology
ometimes in the springtime, and
sometimes in the fall, but less So why do so many people hate
often in the summer, millipedes millipedes? To be certain, more people
Sget “wanderlust” and start moving hate centipedes than millipedes, but
from what seemed like a perfectly good millipedes are on the top-ten most-hated
spot to the less hospitable confines of the list.
home, garage, factory, restaurant, etc. When the weather turns just right and
Millipedes are hard-shelled, elongated, the millipedes start to migrate, they may
“thousand-legged” arthropods that traverse long distances to end up under
spend their lives under mulch, rocks the garage door, in the basement, thick
and other debris where they provide a on the road, on the side of the building,
valuable ecological service as “recyclers.” etc., etc., etc. You get the picture. Once
Millipedes feed on decaying organic they start wandering they’ve got nowhere
matter. They do not eat crops, flowers, to go and all night to get there. It’s the
vegetables or turfgrass, they cannot bite accidental invasion of our personal space
or sting people or pets, and they are that makes millipedes a hated pest.
harmless to property. (Continued on Page 9)
Page 8 IPMA Connection • 3rd Quarter, 2021
