Scientists discover the first true millipedes 

 The critter's name — which means thousand-legged — is no longer a lie. 

This specimen, a female, is 95 millimeters long. Called Persephone, it has more legs than any other creature known.

     The millipedes we’ve known have been a lie. The Latin name for these arthropods implies an impressive set of 1,000 feet.

 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 scrub land in Western Australia. They described the newfound species December 16 in Scientific Reports and named it Persephone.

 Researchers dropped cups baited with leaf litter into drill holes used for mineral prospecting.

     Millipedes have been around for more than 400 million years. In the distant past, some of them grew up to two-meters long.

 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 of the 95 millimeter 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.

 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.

     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. 

 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.

 Mineral: Crystal-forming substances that make up rock, such as quartz, apatite or various carbonates. Most rocks contain several minerals mishmashes together. A mineral usually is solid and stable at room temperatures and has a specific formula, or recipe, and a specific crystalline structure.

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 

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