The body segments have ventral tracheal/spiracular pouches forming apodemes similar to those in millipedes and Symphyla, although the trachea usually connected to these structures are absent in most species.

The first pauropod species to be discovered and described was Pauropus huxleyi, found by Lord Avebury in his own garden in London in 1866.

It has, too, a look of cheerful intelligence, which forms a great contrast to the dull stupidity of the Diplopods, or the melancholy ferocity of most Chilopods.

[4] Adults in the order Tetramerocerata have a scarcely telescopic antennal stalk with four segments, five or six tergites, and eight to ten pairs of legs.

[21] Male pauropods place small packets of sperm on the ground, which the females use to impregnate themselves.

[2][23][24] The embryo goes through a short pupoid stage before the egg hatches and the first larval instar emerges.

[25] Paurapods have a distinctive method of movement characterized by bursts of speed and frequent changes of direction.

[26] Pauropods live in the soil, (usually at densities of less than 100 per square metre [9/sq ft]), and under debris and leaf litter.

[28] As their bodies are too soft to be able to dig and burrow, pauropods follow roots and crevices in the soil, sometimes all the way down to the surface of the groundwater.