DEFENSE
Centipedes use the poison claws to bit potential predators including other centipedes. The caudal legs in some Scolopendromorpha may pinch. Other defense methods include camouflage, "aposematic" [warning] coloration and luminescence, "autotomizing" or dropping of legs that are grasped by predators, and outrunning them. Some species also produce defensive secretions with a variety of noxious chemicals and larger species appear to have poison glands in their legs, as merely walking on skin can result in inflamed puncture wounds. Some lithobiomorphs emit liquid strands from glands in the caudal end that entangle potential predators.

Millipedes receive some protection from the sturdy exoskeleton. Most species can coil into protective spirals with the head in the center, and some can roll into a perfect ball or sphere. The bright "aposematic" pigmentations of colorful species serve to warn and deter potential predators, and the bioluminescence of the species of Motyxia (order Polydesmida) [the world's only bioluminescent millipedes, occurring in Tulare, Kern, and Los Angeles counties in California] probably functions as a nighttime equivalent. Otherwise, millipedes employ chemical defenses, and most have segmental defense glands that open laterally [on the side]. The defensive secretions contain a variety of noxious chemicals that deter, and possibly even kill, predators. However, millipedes do not secrete iodine, and only one order, the Polydesmida, produces cyanide.