In this article you will learn about who is the common drupe, where it lives, what it eats, and other interesting details of its existence. Very often people are afraid of insects. It is said that this fear has persisted at a subconscious level since ancient times, when these representatives of nature were huge and could really scare. If you look at insects close, for example, through a microscope, it turns out that they look like monsters. Drupe vulgaris is no exception.
Don't be afraid
It has a brownish body color (reddish individuals are also found), 15 pairs of long legs, 40 convex eyes located on the sides of the head. An ordinary drupe is a millipede, as well as a scolopendra, so they are somewhat similar. Therefore, having met her, you might think that she might sting, but this is not so. Drupe ordinary eats insects and does not touch a person, even if he tries to catch it. In the spring, this millipede begins to show activity earlier than other insects. Therefore, she has the opportunity to enjoy such a delicacy as caterpillars, spiders and other large insects that did not depart from the winter stupor, which she could not handle in the warm season. What else has common drupe with scolopendra? Respiratory system. These insects have lateral spiracles located in special segments of the body through which air enters the trachea.
What does it look like
The body of the drupe is flat. In length, it reaches about 3 cm. A nimble and flat millipede quickly hides from danger in the narrowest crevices. Moreover, she sees the outside world poorly, despite the large number of eyes. Drupe is best oriented to the touch, and for this there are many tactile hairs on its limbs. She feels the surrounding space also with the help of antennae. It is interesting that the last two pairs of legs of this insect play the role of antennae when it has to back away, running away from enemies. They feel the way. An additional feeling that the millipede uses to move around and get food is the sense of smell. As well as other insects, drupe has an ordinary respiratory system.
Natural conditions
This insect can be found both in nature and in homes. Moreover, they can start up not only in private ownership, but also in an ordinary apartment, in which there is high humidity. The neighborhood is unpleasant, but not dangerous, since drupes are a weak insect and are not able to injure human skin. In nature, they live in rotten stumps, in a litter of leaves and herbs, under the bark of logs, under stones. That is where it is damp. Here they hunt other insects. Drupe does not burrow deep into the soil, but does not come to the surface. Prefers to lead a nocturnal lifestyle. To survive the winter, these millipedes come together in large groups. To defeat another insect and then eat it, Drupe uses the poison that is in its jaws. To save herself from the enemy, the millipede is ready to sacrifice its limb, like a lizard with its tail.
Fancy pets
It is interesting that, despite the fact that you can’t call the drupe pretty, some people catch it and keep it as a pet. Perhaps they have some kind of scientific, research interest, or maybe a simple human curiosity. Caring owners are trying to create suitable conditions for drupes. Planted in a special container filled with peat and equipped with rotten snags. Experts recommend providing one drupe with an area of 9 centimeters. Feed them with accessible insects. Some owners even manage to achieve such favorable conditions that the drupes begin to multiply.
Waiting for the kids
In nature, the mating of these insects occurs after hibernation. The initiator of the relationship is the male. He preliminarily prepares the “marriage bed” in the form of a web, woven by himself, on which the spermatophore lays. Now all that remains is to invite the female. The male drupe “invites” her to the nest, patting her mustache. Moving along the web, the female collects the spermatophore on the legs from which it enters the genital opening. Having laid eggs, the female takes care of them. She coils into a ring around the future offspring and secretes mucus, which protects it from drying out. Babies are born with only 7 pairs of legs, but they grow quickly and soon reach the size of their parents.
In this article, we talked about how ordinary drupe lives. The breath can be intercepted by someone who sees this insect at home. But if you know that these millipedes are useful, for example, because they eat cockroaches, then you start to treat them in a completely different way.