What in the World Is an Arthropod? | God's World News
What in the World Is an Arthropod?
Critter File
Posted: November 01, 2023
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    Louisiana State Arthropod Museum curator Victoria Bayless poses with a rhinoceros beetle specimen in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (AP/Patrick Semansky)
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    Villagers stand near a group of centipedes at Lavad village in India in 2012. Millions of centipedes invaded kitchens, homes, and schools there that year. (AP/Ajit Solanki)
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    Venomous animal expert Stuart Douglas goes eyeball to eyeball with one of his deadly “milking” tarantulas in Australia in 2006. Tarantulas are arachnids, and arachnids are arthropods. (AP/Brian Cassey)
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    Arthropods for dinner? A football fan shows off a lobster before an NFL football game in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (AP/Michael Dwyer)
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    An adult cicada climbs a tree in Princeton, New Jersey. Cicadas are both insects and arthropods. (AP/Daniel Hulshizer)
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THIS JUST IN

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Ever turned over a rock and spotted a millipede? The world has more than 10,000 species of this bug.

Wait . . .

Not bug. Not if by “bug” you mean “insect.”

Millipedes aren’t insects at all. They’re arthropods. Insects are arthropods too. But—believe it or not—millipedes are more like lobsters than flies.

You might be an arthropod if . . .

  • you have an exoskeleton made of a material called chitin.
  • your body has segments. (This means it’s divided into parts. Arthropods have paired legs attached to each segment.)
  • you are a crustacean, arachnid, insect, millipede, or centipede.

Excuse Me, Ma’am. How Many Legs Do You Have?

How did experts decide Millie was a millipede and not a centipede?

Check the chart!

Millipedes

Centipedes

two sets of legs per segment

one set of legs per segment

legs right under body

legs on the side of the body

eat decomposing plants

eat mostly insects

when threatened, coil up and release a stinky smell

when threatened, bite and run away

more round body

more flat body

Make Your Own Arthropod

God designed more arthropods than we have yet discovered. People know about one million types of arthropods so far. But that’s just a fraction of the number that exist!

Take a cue from your Creator. Invent your own arthropod.

Grab a die, some paper, and something to draw with. You’ll roll the die 20 times. First, draw a circle for your arthropod’s head. Then for each roll, draw a new part on your arthropod.

1 = Add an antenna.

2 = Add a segment with a set of legs with pincers.

3 = Add a stinger.

4 = Add an eye.

5 = Add a tooth.

6 = Add a wing.

Got your new arthropod? Give it a name. Snap a photo and send it to us at worldkidseditor@gwnews.com.