What is a general term for an organism with more than 4 legs?
- A Unipedal organism has 1 leg
- A Bipedal organism has 2 legs
- A Quadrupedal organism has 4 legs
- A Hexapedal organism has 6 legs
- An Octopedal organism has 8 legs
But what is a general term that combines anything with more than 4 legs into one word?
Polypod is defined as having many legs. From Oxford:
adjective
Zoology
Having many feet or similar appendages, especially denoting a phase of insect larval development characterized by a segmented abdomen with rudimentary or functional appendages.
The use does appear to have been extended to robots, where polypedal is also used.
multipedal
There is no generic term for something with multiple legs that specifically excludes organisms with 2, 3 or 4 legs. You either have 0, 1, or more than 1.
Myriapodous = having numerous legs.
This was a Crossword clue in today’s Age.
OED
Origin: **Formed within English, by derivation.
Etymology: < Myriapoda n. + -ous suffix.
1843 R. Owen Lect. Compar. Anat. Invertebr. Animals 201 In the Myriapodous insects..the principle of irrelative repetition prevails in the nervous system.
1998 Rec. Austral. Mus. 50 293 The myriapodous arthropod Maldybulakia Tesakov & Alekseev, 1998, was first described from the Lower Devonian (Pragian–Emsian) in central Kazakhstan.
Myriapoda, n. A group of arthropods comprising the centipedes, millipedes, pauropods, and symphylans, which have elongated bodies with numerous leg-bearing segments; (with plural agreement) such arthropods collectively.