Millipedes' Revenge

German town builds anti-millipede wall

By Michael Leidig in Vienna
Last Updated: 2:19am GMT 12/11/2007

Residents of a German village are celebrating victory over an unwelcome invader: thousands of millipedes which have turned their streets, gardens and homes into something from a horror film.

A foot-high wall, which will eventually encircle Obereichstaett in Bavaria, has finally stemmed the nightly flow of the crawling creatures, which have afflicted the village every autumn for hundreds of years.

Bernhard Koderer, 45, who lives with his wife and two children, said: "Last year was the worst so far. The road to my house was completely covered.
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"You couldn't take a step without crushing a dozen underfoot. The smell was disgusting."

Hans Harrer, the mayor, said: "We have tried a complete blackout on street lamps in the autumn. But switching them off was not the solution."

Zoologists called in to advise were unable to tell the inhabitants where the millipedes - Megaphyllum unilineatum - came from, and instead helped design a metal-lined wall with an overhanging lip.

Poison was not a solution because so much would be needed.

Now, the creatures can instead be seen in their thousands crawling around the wall every night.

The problem is far from new: in the autumn of 1900, trains in the vicinity ground to a halt when millipedes on the tracks prevented their wheels from gripping.