<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Aound the world, more than 7,000 species of millipede crawl across forest floors and garden beds, pairs of legs pumping as they move through soil in search of food. The limbs can number in the dozens to the hundreds, and while the term “millipede” translates to “a thousand feet,” the record number of millipede movers has stood at around 750 legs since the description of a Californian species back in 2006. <\/p>\n
“All of the introductory textbooks will have to be rewritten because there is a true millipede now,” says Dennis Black, a millipede expert and adjunct research fellow at LaTrobe University in Australia.<\/p>\n
The “true” millipede has been dubbed Eumillipes persephone. The new species was discovered in a borehole, drilled as part of a Western Australian mining operation, almost 200 feet (60 meters) below the Earth’s surface. It’s the first millipede to live up to its multi-legged moniker with a staggering 1,306 legs. <\/p>\n
“That’s just an amazing number,” says Paul Marek, an entomologist at Virginia Tech and lead author of a paper documenting the find, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. “I’m still in disbelief.” Named for Persephone, the Greek goddess of the underworld, the spindly, brown crawler is just over 3.7 inches long and about as thin as a USB cable. The millipede also lives much deeper in the soil than any previously known species, and the story of its discovery makes for a tale of great luck and incredible irony.<\/p>\n
Why so many legs?<\/p>\n
The Persephone millipede lives in a world with no light and, likely, limited food. Evolution has built it for this world with unique characteristics – similar to, but distinct from, Illacma plenipes. The answer isn’t all that surprising. Legs are for locomotion. They allow you to move around the world. The researchers haven’t seen live specimens moving around in their home underworld, but they can draw on insights from similar species in nature. Based on earlier studies, Marek and the team suggest the super-elongation and short legs help to burrow through the underworld, providing additional propulsive force as it moves in a telescoping motion.<\/p>\n
“The combination of these characteristics really speaks to the importance of being able to traverse deep underground, probably as a result of a limited set of nutrients in the place that it lives,” Marek said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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