Polka-dotted prize

Poking around the yard, avoiding getting started on some real work out there, I discovered a group of tiny white millipedes on the bottom of a dead leaf:

Blaniulus gluttulatus, the spotted snake millipede?

This one is about 5.5 mm. long, or 1/4 inch, and looks as if it were made of glass, with red polka-dot decorations and milky head and tail.

The long "sticks" are pine needles.

Close-up of the spots.

I found them, or their close cousins, on BugGuide: juvenile spotted snake millipedes, an introduced species from Europe. BugGuide has photos from across America, from Massachusetts in the east, to Washington State, just south of here. The adult grows up to about an inch and a half, and may be up to five years old.

These millipedes are mainly subterranean (How do they stay so sparkling clean?); I only found them because I was turning over leaves that were half-buried in the topsoil and duff. They can become a pest in gardens, because of their diet of live plant matter. They like potatoes, carrots, and other root crops, including bulbs (my daffodils?).

The red spots along the sides are defensive glands:

Millipedes also use a variety of chemical defenses. Many have special repugnatorial glands that produce ill-smelling and/or caustic fluids that ooze through openings along the side. These fluids, which are mixtures of hydrocyanic acid, iodine and various quinones, can stain and irritate skin. Insects confined with a millipede may be killed by these substances. (From Millipedes of Colorado)

I like that word, "repugnatorial"!

Some of the millipedes on the leaf were about half the size of the one above.

Such a cutie!

On these, the spots were yellow.

But if those are eyes, then it will be another Balanius, maybe a native. B. guttulatus is blind; it has no eyes.

And my procrastinating habits have been reinforced, once again!