Here's a good read

Read this, found it quite interesting myself!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/10/25/cave-dwelling-millipede-has-414-legs-and-an-unusual-number-of-other-appendages-too/

Very interesting.

I have seen the one they are looking for in California but from what it said in the article they may be looking in the wrong place. If these are so rare does it mean they are endangered? Should I keep where I've seen it a secret? It is one of the more spectacular insects I've ever came across. You can tell it can probably move fast but they don't seem to be very flighty. This is the second rare millipede I've found on accident. The first was the glowing one I can never remember how to spell it. There is glowing millipedes not from me. No black light needed they just glow on their own. I talked to someone about them before but I'm a space cadet...

I am not sure on how just rare it is, but if I remember correctly this wasn't the only post I had seen on these. If you seen one, you could ask someone in the California Entomology Department and they may now.

If I only had half the knowledge most of you have. I never thought of an entomology department even. I get lucky and go where people don't. If I could take some one with the knowledge into the bush with me I wonder what we could find. The reason I don't think they will find the millipede in the sierras is because they are in drought and dying. Also because I've never seen one in there and that's where I mostly go. If there is any there still they are probably so deep in the ground and never come up. With all the dead trees we may see them in a few decades when the trees are rotten. The place where you can find them has plenty of water but not enough dead trees. If a bunch of those dead trees were brought to where those millipedes are for sure they would become less rare. If in a decade the sierras get wetter again and all those dead trees are rotten then maybe they will be there too. Something I wonder is if they tried to bait them. I wouldn't be surprised if you took a bunch of pumpkins or something no millipede could resist and hung out in the deeps for awhile you would probably find every type in the area. As fate would have it I'm stuck dealing with the selfishness and corruption of city life and find very little time to crawl in the sticks anymore...

SirVeza wrote:If I only had half the knowledge most of you have. I never thought of an entomology department even. I get lucky and go where people don't. If I could take some one with the knowledge into the bush with me I wonder what we could find. The reason I don't think they will find the millipede in the sierras is because they are in drought and dying. Also because I've never seen one in there and that's where I mostly go. If there is any there still they are probably so deep in the ground and never come up. With all the dead trees we may see them in a few decades when the trees are rotten. The place where you can find them has plenty of water but not enough dead trees. If a bunch of those dead trees were brought to where those millipedes are for sure they would become less rare. If in a decade the sierras get wetter again and all those dead trees are rotten then maybe they will be there too. Something I wonder is if they tried to bait them. I wouldn't be surprised if you took a bunch of pumpkins or something no millipede could resist and hung out in the deeps for awhile you would probably find every type in the area. As fate would have it I'm stuck dealing with the selfishness and corruption of city life and find very little time to crawl in the sticks anymore...

There is definetly some true truth to this. However I am not sure just if they could go deep enough into the soil to escape the dry soil?

The glowing millipedes are Motyxia sp. . Nice finds!

When I look up California Department of entomology I get universities. Is this where I should be looking or is there an actual state entomology place? Thanks.

I have e mailed to universities lots of times actually about such matters. They typically are very smart and have the answer. If this is something you want to ask, this university you speak of is not a bad place to ask.

I think a few of the UC schools here in Cali have departments of entomology.  UC Riverside and UC Davis at least...  Maybe UC Berkeley.  Also, I think San Francisco University (or something like that) has an entomology lab or something of the sort.  

Good luck on finding answers!

I may be able to help with the baiting part you mentioned.  Look up "pitfall traps for invertebrate collecting" or something along those lines and bait with dog/fish/cat/etc food.  There are tons of invertebrates attracted to it.