Myriapoda (redirected from Miriapod)

Myriapoda [‚mir·ē′äp·ə·də]

(invertebrate zoology)

Informal designation for those mandibulate arthropods having two body tagmata, one pair of antennae, and more than three pairs of adult ambulatory appendages.

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Myriapoda 

the general name for the following four classes of terrestrial arthropods: Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Symphyla, and Pauropoda. Formerly the four classes were considered to be a single class. The bodies of myriapods consist of a head and a more or less long segmented trunk. There is one pair of antennae, and there are legs on all (or almost all) trunk segments. These arthropods comprise about 11,000 species; in the USSR there are approximately 1,000 species. Myriapods live in soil, on the forest floor, and in rotten wood. They feed on decaying plant remains (Diplopoda and Symphyla) and on fungous mycelium (Pauropoda); some are predators (Chilopoda).