Field and Swamp: Animals and Their Habitats

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Non-Insect Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda, kingdom Animalia, domain Eukaryota)

These taxonomic classifications fascinate me. It takes humans, dogs, primates, moles, tapirs and mice, among many others, to make up a single class (Mammalia), but just centipedes to make another, and just springtails to make up yet another!

Springtails (class Collembola, order Entognatha, subphylum Hexapoda)


Springtail (about 1 mm long) with an even smaller hexapod.

Centipedes (class Chilopoda)

Scolopendromorpha order


Centipede, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 11/03/07	Rural Chatham County, NC, 11/9/05. This very tiny centipede appeared under the bark of a dying tree.

Millipedes (class Diplopoda)

Times have changed! I used to see Roly-polies (Pill Millipedes, order Glomerida) all the time, and now I can't remember the last time I saw any.

Spirobolida order


Millipede (Narceus americanus, family spirobolidae), Durham, 8/4/06	Millipede (Spirobolida order), Southern Village walking path, Orange County, NC, 7/20/07. The fly on top of the millipede followed it, landing in various different places on the millipede.	Eno River State Park, Old Cole Mill Road access, 11/7/05. This tiny probably immature millipede looked like a land-based Tubifex worm at a distance.

Polydesmidae order


Millipede (Sigmoria aberrans, family Xystodesmidae, Johnston's Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 8/25/05. This millipede species is found only in North Carolina and Virginia. They pop up in my neighborhood in Durham regularly but infrequently.	Millipede, Polydesmida order, Durham, NC, 11/9/07. At first glance, it looks like a centipede, though.

Harvestmen (order Opiliones, class Arachnida)

We used to call these "Daddy-long-legs" when I was a kid, but now that name is properly applied only to a genuine spider.

Harvestman with prey, NC Botanical Garden, 7/2/05.

Mystery Arthropods


Carolina Beach State Park, New Hanover County, NC, 12/12/05.	Durham, 12/19/05. Probably ½ inch long.