The millipedes we’ve known have been a lie. The Latin name for these arthropods implies an impressive set of 1,000 feet. Yet no millipede had ever been found with more than 750. Until now.
This first millipede to live up to its name tunnels through deep soil using 1,306 little legs. In fact, it’s the leggiest creature ever known to crawl the Earth. Scientists discovered it living beneath semi-arid scrubland in Western Australia. They described the newfound species on December 16 in Scientific Reports and named it Eumillipes Persephone. Why? In Greek mythology, Persephone (Per-SEF-uh-nee) was the queen of the underworld.
Researchers dropped cups baited with leaf litter into drill holes used for mineral prospecting. Each hole was up to 60 meters (197 feet) deep. The leafy bits of bait nabbed a group of eight curiously long, threadlike millipedes from the soil. They were unlike any species known. These creatures were later sent to entomologist Paul Marek at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg for a closer look.
Millipedes have been around for more than 400 million years. In the distant past, some of them grew up to two meters (6.6-feet) long. The new species is far smaller, only about as long as a credit card or four small paper clips placed end to end.
Each of the tiny animals is pale and cream-colored. Their heads are shaped like drill bits and lack eyes. Massive antennae help these creatures find their way about a dark world. These last three traits point to a subterranean lifestyle, Marek says. While inspecting one female under a microscope, he realized she was truly special, he recalls the 95 millimeters (3.7 inches) specimen. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, this has more than 1,000 legs.’”
She had 1,306 tiny feet or nearly twice as many as the previous record-holder. “It’s pretty astounding,” Marek says. Their bodies each contained a super-large number of segments. One female had 330 of them.
The researchers suspect E. Persephone's long, leg-packed body helps it tunnel through soil in up to eight different directions at once. It’s sort of like a tangled strand of mobile pasta. “We suspect it feeds on fungi,” Marek says. Which types of fungi live in these deep, dark soils is not known.
While E. Persephone still holds many secrets, Marek is sure of one thing: “Textbooks are going to have to be changed.” He says that their mention of millipedes will no longer require the line that technically, their name is a misnomer. At long last, he notes: “We finally have a real millipede.”
arthropod: Any of numerous invertebrate animals of the phylum Arthropoda, including the insects, crustaceans, arachnids, and myriapods, that are characterized by an exoskeleton made of a hard material called chitin and a segmented body to which jointed appendages are attached in pairs.
caveat: A potential exception to the general rule or to some general expectation.
entomologist: A biologist who specializes in the study of arthropods, such as insects.
fungi: (sing: fungus) Organisms with one or more cells that reproduce via spores and feed on living or decaying organic matter. Examples include mold, yeasts, and mushrooms.
litter: (in biology) Decaying leaves and other plant matter on the surface of a forest floor.
microscope: An instrument used to view objects, like bacteria, or the single cells of plants or animals, that are too small to be visible to the unaided eye.
millipedes: Long-bodied plant-eating arthropods with many segments. Most body segments have two pairs of legs. Their nickname: thousand-leggers.
mineral: Crystal-forming substances that make up rock, such as quartz, apatite, or various carbonates. Most rocks contain several different minerals mish-mashed together. A mineral usually is solid and stable at room temperatures and has a specific formula, or recipe (with atoms occurring in certain proportions) and a specific crystalline structure (meaning that its atoms are organized in regular three-dimensional patterns).
recall: To remember.
species: A group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.
subterranean: An adjective for something that is found or occurs below the ground’s surface.
trait: A characteristic feature of something. (in genetics) A quality or characteristic that can be inherited.
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