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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Myriapods (Myriapoda) » Millipedes (Diplopoda) » Flat-backed Millipedes (Polydesmida) » Xystodesmidae » Xystodesmini » Harpaphe » Harpaphe haydeniana
Photo#10945
Yellow-spotted Millipede - Harpaphe haydeniana
Copyright © 2005 Robyn Waayers

Yellow-spotted Millipede - Harpaphe haydeniana
Cape Perpetua, Lane County, Oregon, USA
April 12, 2003
Size: about 30 mm
These millipedes are quite abundant in the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest and seem usually to be on the surface as opposed to under things.
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Contributed by Robyn Waayers on 6 February, 2005 - 5:39pm
Last updated 2 June, 2006 - 5:17am

Harpaphe haydeniana haydeniana (Wood)
This photo is indeed of the nominate subspecies of Harpaphe haydeniana, the dominant Pacific Coastal representative of the Xystodesmidae (=Eurydesmidae) from northern California to southern Alaska. It belongs to a different "tribe" (a taxonomic category below family but above genus) from the xystodesmids in eastern North America, and the body proportions are noticeably different; it is narrower for its length than the species of Apheloria, etc.
… Rowland Shelley, 5 March, 2007 - 8:00pm login or register to post comments

Cyanide secreting
My understanding is that this is one of those millipedes that secretes cyanide compounds to defend itself, so please be careful handling them.
… Eric R. Eaton, 8 February, 2005 - 10:57am login or register to post comments

 
I can vouch for that
I was only 8 or so, and after handling one I rubbed my eye. Big mistake. It burned like heck, and I couldn't open my eye to see out of it for several hours. The next day there was a tiny scab on the top of my eyelid. I later read about the cyanide compounds, and you can certainly smell them by rubbing one of these guys with a stick. Smells like almond extract.
… Richard C. Hoyer, 12 June, 2006 - 4:25pm login or register to post comments

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