Editing Millipede (section)

===Distinction from centipedes===
The differences between millipedes and centipedes are a common question from the general public.<ref name="Shelley 1999">{{cite journal |last=Shelley |first=Rowland M. |title=Centipedes and millipedes with emphasis on North American fauna |journal=The Kansas School Naturalist |year=1999 |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=1–16 |url=http://www.emporia.edu/ksn/v45n3-march1999/ |access-date=2013-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112025334/http://www.emporia.edu/ksn/v45n3-march1999/ |archive-date=2016-11-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Both groups of myriapods share similarities, such as long, multi-segmented bodies, many legs, a single pair of antennae, and the presence of [[Tömösváry organ|postantennal organ]]s, but have many differences and distinct evolutionary histories, as the [[most recent common ancestor]] of centipedes and millipedes lived around 450 to 475 million years ago in the Silurian.<ref name=Brewer&Bond2013>{{cite journal|last1=Brewer|first1=Michael S.|last2=Bond|first2=Jason E.|title=Ordinal-level phylogenomics of the arthropod class Diplopoda (Millipedes) based on an analysis of 221 nuclear protein-coding loci generated using next-generation sequence analyses|journal=PLOS ONE |year=2013|volume=8|issue=11|pages=e79935|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0079935|pmid=24236165|pmc=3827447|bibcode=2013PLoSO...879935B|doi-access=free}}</ref> The head alone exemplifies the differences; millipedes have short, geniculate (elbowed) [[Antenna (biology)|antenna]]e for probing the substrate, a pair of robust mandibles and a single pair of maxillae fused into a lip; centipedes have long, threadlike antennae, a pair of small mandibles, two pairs of maxillae and a pair of large poison claws.<ref name=Blower>{{cite book|author=Blower, John Gordon|title=Millipedes: Keys and Notes for the Identification of the Species|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQsVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 |year=1985 |publisher=Brill Archive |isbn=978-90-04-07698-3 |page=1}}</ref>
[[File:Millipede centipede side-by-side.png|thumb|alt=Millipede and centipede|A representative millipede and centipede (not necessarily to scale)]]
{| class="wikitable"
|+ '''Millipede and centipede differences'''<ref name="Shelley 1999"/>
! scope="col" style="width:100pt;"| Trait
! scope="col" style="width:260pt;"| Millipedes
! scope="col" style="width:270pt;"| Centipedes
|- valign="top"
! scope="row" | Legs
| Two pairs on most body segments; attached to underside of body
| One pair per body segment; attached to sides of body; last pair extends backwards
|- valign="top"
! scope="row" | Locomotion
| Generally adapted for burrowing or inhabiting small crevices; slow-moving
| Generally adapted for running, except for the burrowing [[Geophilomorpha|soil centipedes]]
|- valign="top"
! scope="row" | Feeding
| Primarily detritivores, some herbivores, few carnivores; no venom
| Primarily carnivores with front legs modified into venomous fangs
|- valign="top"
! scope="row" | Spiracles
| On underside of body
| On the sides or top of body
|- valign="top"
! scope="row" | Reproductive openings
| Third body segment
| Last body segment	
|- valign="top"
! scope="row" | Reproductive behaviour
| Male generally inserts spermatophore into female with gonopods
| Male produces spermatophore that is usually picked up by female
|}