A Flatback millipede of the order Polydesmidae in the Khao Yai National Park, Thailand.

Members of the order Polydesmida are also known as "flat-backed millipedes", because on most species, each body segment has wide lateral keels known as paranota.These keels are produced by the posterior half (metazonite) of each body ring behind the collum..Polydesmids have no eyes, and vary in length from 3 to 130 mm (0.12 to 5.12 in).Including the telson adults have 19 or 20 rings, while juvenilesmay have from 7 to 19 rings. Mature males have a single pair of gonopodsconsisting of the modified forward leg pair of the 7th segment. Many of the larger species show bright coloration patterns which warn predators of their toxic secretions.

 Polydesmids are very common in. leaf litter where they burrow by levering with the anterior end of the body.