Ivan the Terrible? He was pretty terrible. Alexander the Great? Pretty great. (At least at conquering.) Their names seem to fit their deeds. But here’s a name that doesn’t: Millipede. I’m talking about those many-footed little guys you sometimes see on the forest floor chewing on leaves, the ones that sometimes curl up into tight little spirals when you disturb them.

Yes, millipedes have feet, lots of them, so I’m good with the last syllable, ped, Latin for foot. But the first syllable, milli, Latin for a thousand? That’s a crazy exaggeration. Millipedes don’t have a thousand feet. Not even close.

It turns out the world record holder, the most leggy millipede ever seen by scientists, says zoologist Rowland Shelley, is