Roly poly puchi

Chetan dropped this into my hand while at the Yercaud camp this summer. No, its not a nut or fruit, but a roly poly puchi!  It was so tightly rolled up like one of those well-made cases that cannot be opened.
Leave it alone, and after a good 45 seconds, it slowly unfurls and becomes this.



Seems to be, this is a pill millipede, and not a pill bug.  The latter is actually a crustacean, and from what I read, my puchi seems to be a puchi only and therefore the former.  I may be wrong, may be right....

Thirteen body segments and they feed on dead matter from what I read.  So, not a pest, but one of those little ancient critters that quietly go about recycling decomposing plant matter.




Comments

  1. For some reason it reminds me of trilobites..as if it got stuck in evolution...beautiful though

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    1. I should have taken a video of it uncurling...I was so absorbed staring at it, that I overlooked that! And I did not have the heart to make it curl up again.

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