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For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Photo#5709
American Giant Millipede (Narceus americanus) - Narceus americanus-annularis-complex - male

American Giant Millipede (Narceus americanus) - Narceus americanus-annularis-complex - Male
Tallahassee, Florida, USA
August 8, 2004

Narceus americanus (Beauvois,
Narceus americanus (Beauvois, 1817) (Spirobolida: Spirobolidae) again, the most common millipede species in eastern North America.

Do they shed?
I found a American Giant Millipede (Narceus americanus)in my bedroom the other day & I thought it was a spring! I picked it up & realized it was dead. As I was holding it, it broke apart in my hand & it was hollow inside.
My question is: was it just dead & decomposed or, as my wife asked, was it a shedding?

 
They have incomplete metamorphosis,
so the nymph sheds several times on its way to adulthood, each time gaining more segments (and legs). What you found was probably a cast-off skin. I've found them occasionally too.