Tachypodoiulus niger

Taxobox | name = "Tachypodoiulus niger"

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image_width = 240px
image2_width = 240px
image_caption = "T. niger" walking over moss
image2_caption = "T. niger" in defensive posture
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Myriapoda
classis = Diplopoda
ordo = Julida
familia = Julidae
genus = "Tachypodoiulus"
species = "T. niger"
binomial = "Tachypodoiulus niger"
binomial_authority = (Leach, 1814) cite web |work=Fauna Europaea |url=http://www.faunaeur.org/full_results.php?id=150347 |title="Tachypodoiulus niger" (Leach 1814) |accessdate=2007-06-28]

"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 only be reliably told apart by studying the shape of the telson cite web |url=http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th11b(1).htm |title="Tachypodoiulus niger" |author=Stuart M. Bennett |year=2000] . It occurs in the British Isles, Spain, France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic , and is especially common on chalky and limestone soils .

"T. niger" has a roughly cylindrical shiny black body, with around 100 pairs of contrasting white legs cite web |url=http://www.plantpress.com/wildlife/o163-whiteleggedsnakemillipede.php |title=White-legged snake millipede — "Tachypodoiulus niger" |publisher=Natural England |accessdate=2007-06-28] on its 41–56 body segments . It lives in leaf litter, under bark or in moss, and feeds on encrusting algae, detritus and sometimes fruit such as raspberries . Predators of "T. niger" include the centipedes "Lithobius variegatus" and "Lithobius forficatus" and hedgehogs [cite web |url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Erinaceus_europaeus.html |title="Erinaceus europaeus": western European hedgehog |publisher=University of Michigan |work=Animal Diversity Web |author=B. Lundrigan & J. Bidlingmeyer |year=2000] .

"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 [cite journal |quotes=no |author=Barundeb Banerjee |title=Diurnal and seasonal variations in the activity of the millipedes "Cylindroiulus punctatus" (Leach), "Tachopodoiulus niger" (Leach) and "Polydesmus angustus" Latzel |journal=Oikos |year=1967 |volume=18 |pages=141–144 |doi=10.2307/3564643] . 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 , but it can also flee with sidewinding movements [cite web |url=http://forum.diplopoda.de/thread.php?threadid=1670 |title="Tachypodoiulus niger" vs. "Julus scandinavius" |publisher=diplopoda.de de icon] .

References