Apart from the barbed and thorny vegetation, the plains and deserts of West Texas can at times appear still, devoid of life. But a single rain dispels that illusion, as otherwise elusive desert creatures make an appearance.

Millipedes are one of those creatures. Take to a West Texas highway after a storm, and you'll find you're sharing the road with hundreds, even thousands, of auburn-colored millipedes on the move.

These West Texas millipedes spend most of their lives underground. But in their burrowing, and in their sojourns on the surface, they play a valuable role in the ecosystem.

Millipedes are arthropods, the group of invertebrates that includes insects, arachnids and crustac...