The first true millipede—1306 legs long. Marek, P. E., Buzatto, B. A., Shear, W. A., Means, J. C., Black, D. G., Harvey, M. S., & Rodriguez, J. Scientific Reports, 11(1):23126, December, 2021. ![The first true millipede—1306 legs long [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper doi abstract bibtex Abstract The name “millipede” translates to a thousand feet (from mille “thousand” and pes “foot”). However, no millipede has ever been described with more than 750 legs. We discovered a new record-setting species of millipede with 1,306 legs, Eumillipes persephone , from Western Australia. This diminutive animal (0.95 mm wide, 95.7 mm long) has 330 segments, a cone-shaped head with enormous antennae, and a beak for feeding. A distant relative of the previous record holder, Illacme plenipes from California, it belongs to a different order, the Polyzoniida. Discovered 60 m below ground in a drill hole created for mineral exploration, E. persephone possesses troglomorphic features; it lacks eyes and pigmentation, and it has a greatly elongated body—features that stand in stark contrast to its closest surface-dwelling relatives in Australia and all other members of its order. Using phylogenomics, we found that super-elongation (\textgreater 180 segments) evolved repeatedly in the millipede class Diplopoda. The striking morphological similarity between E. persephone and I. plenipes is a result of convergent evolution, probably for locomotion in similar soil habitats. Discovered in the resource-rich Goldfields-Esperance region and threatened by encroaching surface mining, documentation of this species and conservation of its habitat are of critical importance.
@article{marek_first_2021,
title = {The first true millipede—1306 legs long},
volume = {11},
issn = {2045-2322},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02447-0},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-021-02447-0},
abstract = {Abstract
The name “millipede” translates to a thousand feet (from
mille
“thousand” and
pes
“foot”). However, no millipede has ever been described with more than 750 legs. We discovered a new record-setting species of millipede with 1,306 legs,
Eumillipes persephone
, from Western Australia. This diminutive animal (0.95 mm wide, 95.7 mm long) has 330 segments, a cone-shaped head with enormous antennae, and a beak for feeding. A distant relative of the previous record holder,
Illacme plenipes
from California, it belongs to a different order, the Polyzoniida. Discovered 60 m below ground in a drill hole created for mineral exploration,
E. persephone
possesses troglomorphic features; it lacks eyes and pigmentation, and it has a greatly elongated body—features that stand in stark contrast to its closest surface-dwelling relatives in Australia and all other members of its order. Using phylogenomics, we found that super-elongation ({\textgreater} 180 segments) evolved repeatedly in the millipede class Diplopoda. The striking morphological similarity between
E. persephone
and
I. plenipes
is a result of convergent evolution, probably for locomotion in similar soil habitats. Discovered in the resource-rich Goldfields-Esperance region and threatened by encroaching surface mining, documentation of this species and conservation of its habitat are of critical importance.},
language = {en},
number = {1},
urldate = {2021-12-17},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
author = {Marek, Paul E. and Buzatto, Bruno A. and Shear, William A. and Means, Jackson C. and Black, Dennis G. and Harvey, Mark S. and Rodriguez, Juanita},
month = dec,
year = {2021},
pmcid = {PMC8677783},
pmid = {34916527},
pages = {23126},
}
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However, no millipede has ever been described with more than 750 legs. We discovered a new record-setting species of millipede with 1,306 legs,\n Eumillipes persephone\n , from Western Australia. This diminutive animal (0.95 mm wide, 95.7 mm long) has 330 segments, a cone-shaped head with enormous antennae, and a beak for feeding. A distant relative of the previous record holder,\n Illacme plenipes\n from California, it belongs to a different order, the Polyzoniida. Discovered 60 m below ground in a drill hole created for mineral exploration,\n E. persephone\n possesses troglomorphic features; it lacks eyes and pigmentation, and it has a greatly elongated body—features that stand in stark contrast to its closest surface-dwelling relatives in Australia and all other members of its order. Using phylogenomics, we found that super-elongation ({\\textgreater} 180 segments) evolved repeatedly in the millipede class Diplopoda. 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