“Daddy! I found a callerpitter, and since I didn’t want it to be lonely, I found it a friend too!”
Now, I don’t know a lot about insects and creepy crawlies, but I know what a caterpillar basically looks like. This was NOT a caterpillar.
Using my best calm voice, I asked Katie to keep the critters in a container and to not touch until Daddy had done some internet research.
Best guess, she found a pair of Apheloria tigana, aka Flat Yellow Leg Millipedes. I saw “These secretions contain a cyanide compound and a strong odor…” and I flipped out. I ran out the door to where Katie was about to release them back onto the ground and made sure she didn’t touch them with her skin.
Of course, after I came back inside, I read the rest of the page – “…but are harmless to the skin. They will not release their secretion if allowed to croll onto your hand.”
Oh well. Better safe than sorry.
3 responses to “Katie Brings Home a Millipede”
She is so sweet to find it a friend! 🙂 Glad it didn’t hurt her.
When I was an interpretive naturalist with Tennessee state parks, I used to catch them on the trail, put them in my cupped hands and set the group smell the almond odor (cyanide) and I told them about the “warning coloration” of the critters which helped protect them. It was always a great teaching moment when I found one and they are all over the woods.
Totally saw you hightail it out the door