Millipedes and Centipedes Worksheet

Warm-Up
1 Read the joke.
Question: Why do millipedes and centipedes never play football?
Answer: It takes them too long to put their boots on.
• What other words do you know which start with ‘cent’ and ‘milli’?
• What do ‘cent’ and ‘milli’ mean?
Reading
2 Read the text and take notes using the Venn diagram.
Millipedes and centipedes

If you look under stones, rocks, leaves and dead logs, you will find lots of
different creepy-crawlies. Most of these will be either centipedes or millipedes.
You can recognise them because they have thin worm-like bodies and lots of
legs. Do you know how to tell the difference between the two? If you thought
of counting their legs, you would be right. Millipedes generally have around
300 legs, but centipedes usually only have between thirty and forty. Another
difference is in the way they walk. Centipedes march their feet in time – left,
right, left, right – just like soldiers. However, millipedes glide along the floor,
like snakes. Their bodies look different too. Centipedes have flat bodies that
are broken up into clear sections. Each section has one long leg on each side.
In contrast, millipedes’ bodies are smooth and rounded. Each section of their
body has four short legs, two on each side. If you looked even closer, you
would see that millipedes have sharp rows of teeth in their mouths, whereas
centipedes have two sharp fangs. A bite from these fangs can be very painful
as nearly all centipedes are poisonous. They use this poison to kill millipedes
and other bugs who they then gobble up for dinner. Millipedes have no way of
fighting back. When they are attacked, they curl up in a ball and squirt out a
bad-smelling liquid. This is a good defence mechanism as it makes the
centipede think twice about eating them.

centipedes both millipedes

Author: Joanne Yanova Page 1 of 22

r:©Katie Jones.
Pearson PHOTOCOPIABLE
Millipedes and Centipedes Worksheet
3 Which picture shows a centipede? Which shows a millipede?
How do you know?

Presentation
4 Find the following words in the text.
but however in contrast whereas

a Do these words join together ideas that are similar or ideas that are different?
b Which of these words are used to join ideas within a sentence?
c Which of these words are used to join ideas across sentences?
d What other punctuation is used with these words?

Practice
5 Join these ideas together using the words in brackets.
a Centipedes eat millipedes and other bugs. Millipedes eat plants, leaves and
wood. (whereas)
b Millipedes are usually about 3 cm long. In some parts of the world, they can
grow as long as 26 cm. (however)
c Centipedes can run fast and can easily catch other creatures. Millipedes move
slowly because they have very short legs. (in contrast)
d Centipedes can give you a nasty bite. Millipedes are not dangerous. (but)
6 Use the notes to make sentences comparing moths and butterflies.
butterflies moths
when they fly during the day at night
wings when resting closed open
typical colours of wings bright colours dull colours
bodies thin and hairless fat and furry

Closure
7 Carry out research to find the differences between these pairs of creatures.
insects arachnids
wasps bees
snails slugs
Author: Joanne Yanova Page 2 of 22
r:©Katie Jones.
Pearson PHOTOCOPIABLE