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
The millipede, dubbed Eumillipes persephone, was found 60 meters underground in a drilling well in Western Australia. The length of her body is 9.5 centimeters, and the width is 1 millimeter. The invertebrate creature has 330 body segments, antennae, a beak and a cone-shaped head.
To count all the tiny legs of the creature, scientists needed a high-resolution image of it and almost an hour of time.
It is known that the previous record for the number of limbs belonged to the California species of millipedes Illacme plenipes, which can have 750 legs.
It is reported that in recent years, other previously unknown invertebrates have been discovered under the Earth’s surface, including beetles and millipedes in Brazilian iron ore caves and spiders in the caves of the Edwards Plateau in Texas.
Scientists note that underground habitats and their inhabitants are of great ecological importance for filtering groundwater and detecting toxins in the environment, but at the moment they have been studied very poorly, CNN writes.
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