.Greetings fellow Foxies,
The name millipede means ‘thousands of legs’ but they generally have up to 350 in pairs. As their diet consists of leaf litter and other detritus, native millipedes are very handy in the bush for recycling nutrients. Native millipedes have a lumpy ‘Michelin Man’ look, and are common in low numbers.
Alas, now when I turn over a rock in Foxes Lair I find dozens of a smelly invader the Portuguese Millipede (Ommatoiulus moreletii) that probably arrived in plant pots with potting mix. There were thousands crawling around York gum rocky red soils this morning. They swarm and mate after first rains in autumn, so expect them soon in houses.
When I was with the Ag Dept, we would get lots of queries on control from anguished householder who were being invaded in the evening.
This is an excellent article with everything you wanted to know about Portuguese millipedes. (apart from permanent control – an introduced pest with no effective predators).
They are attracted to light so turn porch and hall lights off for now
A friend of mine "let my chooks out of their yard and they scratched and disturbed all of my leaf litter.
---- it coincided with my massive invasions on the first rains,reducing to bugger all."
The name millipede means ‘thousands of legs’ but they generally have up to 350 in pairs. As their diet consists of leaf litter and other detritus, native millipedes are very handy in the bush for recycling nutrients. Native millipedes have a lumpy ‘Michelin Man’ look, and are common in low numbers.
Alas, now when I turn over a rock in Foxes Lair I find dozens of a smelly invader the Portuguese Millipede (Ommatoiulus moreletii) that probably arrived in plant pots with potting mix. There were thousands crawling around York gum rocky red soils this morning. They swarm and mate after first rains in autumn, so expect them soon in houses.
When I was with the Ag Dept, we would get lots of queries on control from anguished householder who were being invaded in the evening.
This is an excellent article with everything you wanted to know about Portuguese millipedes. (apart from permanent control – an introduced pest with no effective predators).
They are attracted to light so turn porch and hall lights off for now
A friend of mine "let my chooks out of their yard and they scratched and disturbed all of my leaf litter.
---- it coincided with my massive invasions on the first rains,reducing to bugger all."
Portuguese millipede (top) native millipede below  Antichiropis variabilis |  mass of Portuguese millipedes |
June 2022. I just learnt that Antichiropis species are imports from the eastern states. The local species is genus Paradoxosomatidae. It is difficult to distinguish between the two species, with both being under threat from the the Portuguese millipede.
Native (possibly Paradoxosomatidae) native millipedes
