The classes Chilipoda (centipedes) and Diplopoda (millipedes) once belonged to the sub-phyla Myriapoda, the Myriapods, which basically means many legs. However, as time went by scientists realised centipedes and millipedes were not especially closely related and put them into their own classes. The most obvious difference when looking at them is that in centipedes each body segment supports one pair of legs, whilst for the millipedes most segments support two pairs of legs.

In addition the centipedes are all carnivorous, typically flattened and surprisingly they do not have a water proof layer, as found in insects. As such they are confined to damp places such as within the soil itself where they are both hunter and hunted. Because in the wildlife garden we attempt to restrict disturbance of the soil as much as possible, we rarely spot centipedes unless moving a rock or for example when creating a pond or planting a shrub.

Whilst the British species do have a pair of poisonous claws which wrap around the head plate, they are not able to break the skin of a person, unlike some of their tropical cousins.