Detecting an underground creature with a record of 1,306 feet
While drilling deep underground in a mining area in Australia, scientists discovered a "miracle of evolution", which is a millipede with the most legs in the world. world, 1,306 feet to be exact.
A female millipede, identified as Eumillipes persephone, was discovered deep underground in Australia.
The millipede milipede (from Latin: mille for a thousand and pes for foot) is usually about 95 mm long, about 0.95 mm wide, with a conical head, beak-shaped mouth, and rather large antennae.
According to the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports on December 16, scientists say the newly discovered milipede species is blind, named Eumillipes persephone. A few individuals of this species have been found living at a depth of nearly 60 m underground. Females have more legs than males.
Virginia Tech entomologist Paul Marek, lead author of the study, said: 'It was previously unknown that the milipede actually had 1,000 legs, despite the name millipede meaning 'thousand feet'.
A male individual of the newly identified milipede species Eumillipes persephone was discovered underground.
Study co-author Bruno Buzatto, lead biologist at Environmental Consultants Bennelongia in Perth, Australia added: 'This is, in my opinion, a stunning animal, a wonder of the world. evolution".
"It represents the greatest length found to date in milipedes, which were the first animals to conquer land. And the peculiarity of this species is that it has managed to adapt to living tens of thousands of feet deep. meters underground, in an arid and inhospitable landscape where it is difficult to find any kind," added Dr Buzatto.
By far the most known millipede is a California milipede called Illacme plenipes, with 750 legs.
The researchers speculate that the evolution of many legs helped the Eumillipes.
Dr Buzatto said: 'We think that the large number of legs provides a traction advantage to propel their bodies forward through small openings and faults in the soil where they live.
This species lives in complete darkness in an underground habitat filled with iron and volcanic rock. Without eyes, it uses other senses such as touch and smell to perceive its surroundings. It belongs to a family of Milipede that eat fungi, so the researchers suspect the fungus is their food.
It was discovered in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia in an area where miners dig for gold and minerals such as lithium and vanadium. Four individuals of Eumilipes were described in the study and four more were found.
One of the adult females described in the study had 1,306 legs and the other 998. One of the two adult males had 818 legs and the other had 778. None of the individuals were alive.
The head and reproductive organs of a male eyeless milipede species recently identified as Eumilipes persephone were discovered deep underground in Australia.
The uneven number of legs in milipedes is due to the fact that they molt, shed their tough outer layer, grow and add four-legged segments throughout their lives.
Dr Buzatto said: 'It is quite common for individuals to have more legs when they molt, so older individuals have more legs than young individuals.
Usually milipedes have about 100 to 200 pins. After milipede, centipedes have the most legs, up to 382. Centipedes have one pair of legs per body segment, while milipede have two pairs of legs.
Millipedes, slow-moving arthropods related to centipedes, insects, and crustaceans, first appeared more than 400 million years ago.
About 13,000 species of Millipede are known today, living in all kinds of environments, feeding on decaying plants and fungi. They play an important role in ecosystems by breaking down the material they eat and releasing carbon, nitrogen and simple sugars.
"These nutrients can then be used by future generations," said Associate Professor Marek.
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