Why millipedes seem to be thriving in Canberra

They have hundreds of legs, can give off a pungent odour and crunch underfoot.

If you have observed an influx of millipedes in your backyard, your pool or inside on your walls lately, you are not alone.

March and April are millipede breeding season, and thanks to the La Nina weather conditions brining more rain to Canberra, millipedes are thriving.

How to spot a millipede

Millipedes are easy to spot — they are long and cylindrical, and crawl up into a spiral when they are disturbed.

But don’t be mistaken — a millipede isn’t an insect, according to Associate Professor Tanya Latty, an entomologist with a special interest in insect behaviour and ecology at the University of Sydney.

“Millipedes are arthropods, which are a relative of insects,…