Researchers discovered the world’s leggiest animal
Perth: Millipedes were the first land animals, and today we know of more than 13,000 species. There are likely thousands more species of the many-legged invertebrates awaiting discovery and formal scientific description. The name “millipede” comes from the Latin for “thousand feet”, but until now no known species had more than 750 legs. However, my […]
Perth: Millipedes were the first land animals, and today we know of more than 13,000 species. There are likely thousands more species of the many-legged invertebrates awaiting discovery and formal scientific description.
The name “millipede” comes from the Latin for “thousand feet”, but until now no known species had more than 750 legs. However, my colleagues and I recently found a new champion. The eyeless, subterranean Eumillipes persephone, discovered 60 metres underground near the south coast of Western Australia, has up to 1,306 legs, making it the first “true millipede” and the leggiest animal on Earth.
In Australia, most species in some groups of invertebrates are still undescribed. Many could even become extinct before we know about them. Part of the reason is that life is everywhere, even where we least expect it. You could be excused for thinking remote areas of Western Australia such as the Pilbara and the Goldfields, where the land is arid and harsh, are not home to too many species. But the reality is very different.
An enormously diverse array of poorly known animals live underground, inhabiting cavities and fractures in the rock several metres below the surface.One way to find out about these creatures is to place “troglofauna traps” far below the surface. E. persephone was found in one of these traps, which had spent two months 60m underground in a mining exploration bore in the Goldfields.
Milli- means 1,000. Ped or pes means🦶. So all millipedes must have 1,000 feet. Nope! In fact, none did…Until now! #NSFfunded scientists have discovered the first true millipede – Eumillipes persephone. This helps expand knowledge of the diversity of these important insects. pic.twitter.com/30WOEhuPBW
— National Science Foundation (@NSF) December 16, 2021
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