DETAILS
- Discipline
NH: ZOOLOGY: INVERTEBRATES: MYRIAPODS (CENTIPEDES, MILLIPEDES)
- Scientific Name
Glomeris marginata
- Common Name
Pill Millipede
- Date Collected
1918
- Place Collected
Ireland, Killarney, (place collected)
- Age
adult
- Form
wet preserved
- Description
-
These pill millipedes, Glomeris marginata, were collected in Ireland in 1918 and then donated to the museum as part of a larger collection in 1985. They are found all over the UK south of the Scottish central belt.
They live in the leaf litter in woods and along hedgerows where they feed on dead organic matter. Although they are mainly active at night they can cope with the heat of the sun better than other millipedes as their ability to roll into a ball means they can minimise moisture loss. They are also very long lived for such small invertebrates with some females reaching around 11 years.
Pill millipedes are capable of rolling themselves into a ball when danger threatens which has led to their common name as they look like a small pill. In the past they were used as a traditional medicine and often given for indigestion as the calcium carbonate they contained would have helped to neutralise stomach acids. - ID Number
Z.1985.222.17
- Location
In storage
- Terms