@article {1442, title = {The first true millipede{\textemdash}1306 legs long}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {11}, year = {2021}, month = {16/12/2021}, pages = {1-8}, 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 (\>\ 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.

}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02447-0}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02447-0}, 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} }