The team of researchers was the first to study some specimens of a new type of millipede that lives at a depth of about 60 meters in the Australian subsoil and has longer legs than previously known species. Whatever the name, there are actually no thousand “feet” in any of the centimeters ever seen, but a maximum of 750: a model with more legs than was recently discovered and described in one. Studio Published in the magazine Thursday Scientific reports This is more than 1,300, almost doubling.
Called the new race Umilips Persephone, Where “eumillipes” means “true centipede” e Persephone Refers to the divinity of Greek mythology living underground during the winter months.
The first example Umilips Persephone This was observed in August 2020 by Bruno Pusato, a biologist working for an environmental consulting firm in the state of Western Australia. Pusato discovered during some studies to evaluate the impact of mining activities on underground life. He noticed that the millibeat was a few centimeters long but thinner than a millimeter and somewhat reminiscent of a type of pasta called angel hair. It was pale and had no eyes, but a lot of legs – things that immediately made him think he was related to that race. Illacme plenipes, I.e., known as the millibeat with the most legs up to that moment, as well as the creature with the most legs on earth.
Buzatto then sent photos and some information to Paul Marek, an entomologist at the American University of Virginia Tech where he studied. Illacme plenipes. Then he went to work looking for more.
The first calculation of eight millibytes recovered from the ground shows that one of them had more than 800 feet: this is a record compared to the creatures known at the time, but still a few millibytes make new legs in adolescence. ..
However, after a new study conducted in the University of Virginia laboratory, a woman with 1,306 feet and a model with longer legs emerged.
Picture taken Studio Published in “Scientific Reports”
DNA analysis of the observed samples has allowed us to understand that despite the many common characteristics, the new species are not related to the millibeds found in California: one of the most plausible hypotheses is that they share characteristics. Have evolved in a very similar way. As mentioned, both types of millibeats are pale and have no eyes; In addition, they have large antennae, a crane for feeding and several legs that are used to catch and move very easily on the ground.
Marek, lead author of the study, Al said New York Times This is an “interesting” finding, precisely because these millibeats are twice as big as the legs of the models known so far: “750 feet looks like a lot of legs to an animal. 1,306 really makes you gasp”.
According to Marek, it is possible to have models of the same breed with more legs: “All manuals must be rewritten”, or at least a paragraph about milliseconds, he added.
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