Euanamorphosis
Guides
Siphonophorida
Snout Millipedes
Siphonophorida is an order of millipedes in the subclass Colobognatha containing two families: Siphonophoridae and Siphonorhinidae. These millipedes are characterized by super-elongated, worm-like bodies with up to 190 segments and extreme numbers of legs—up to 750 in Illacme plenipes, the leggiest animal known. They lack eyes and exhibit euanamorphosis, adding segments throughout life even after sexual maturity. The order shows a scattered, disjunct distribution across multiple continents including North America, South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia.
Siphonorhinidae
Siphonorhinidae is a family of millipedes in the order Siphonophorida, characterized by super-elongated trunks with more than 180 diplosegments and leg counts exceeding 710 in some species. The family includes the leggiest animal on Earth, Illacme plenipes, with females possessing up to 750 legs. Members are small, threadlike, slow-moving, unpigmented, and inhabit deep soil microhabitats. The family exhibits a fragmentary, disjunct distribution across California, southern Africa, Madagascar, the Malay Archipelago, Indo-Burma, and now Chile. Siphonorhinidae is represented in the Western Hemisphere solely by the genus Illacme in California and the newly described genus Notorhinus in Chile.