Millipedes with 1,306 legs have been found in Australia – most of any known animal | world News

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Scientists have discovered a 1,306-legged millipede – more than any known animal – and say it’s an “evolution marvel”.

A handful of examples have been found 200 feet (60 meters) underground in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, where miners scavenge for gold and lithium.

This creature has no eyes, is pale in color, is about 95 mm long and less than one millimeter wide.

PHOTO: The length of the Emilippus Persephone is about 95 mm

It uses touch and smell to sense its environment and lives in complete darkness in a subterranean habitat of iron and volcanic rock.

He found that two of the females the biologists studied were significantly larger than their male counterparts – one with 1,306 legs and the other with 998.

Two males had 818 and 778 legs – there is still a huge increase in the numbers of normal legs, which generally have between 100 and 200 legs.

The previous record was set by a creature found in California – Illacme plenipes – who had 750 feet.

The newly discovered creature was called Eumillipes Persephone, which means “a true thousand feet” and refers to Persephone, the queen of the underworld in ancient Greek mythology.

Photo: Microscopic view of the legs of an example man

Having a lot of legs is believed to bring evolutionary benefits.

“We think it () provides an advantage in terms of traction/force to push their bodies forward through the small gaps and fractures in the soil in which they live,” said Bruno Pozzato, principal biologist at Bennelongia Environmental Consultants in Perth.

“In my opinion, this is an amazing animal – a marvel of evolution. It represents the maximum elongation found so far in millipedes, which were the first animals to invade Earth.

“And these species in particular have been able to adapt to living tens of meters deep in the soil, in a harsh and arid region where it is very difficult to find any millipedes living at the surface.”

Previously, no known millipede actually had 1,000 feet even though the name millipede means ‘thousand feet,’ said Virginia Tech entomologist Paul Marek, lead author of the research published in Scientific Reports.

Millipedes, related to centipedes, insects, and crustaceans, first appeared more than 400 million years ago.

There are about 13,000 species known today, feeding on decomposing plants and fungi.

They play an important role in the ecosystem by breaking down the matter on which they feed, liberating its component parts such as carbon, nitrogen, and simple sugars.

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