Historic step: first real centipede discovered | Abroad

Of the previously known worm-like critters called centipedes, none have ever been found with more than 750 legs. The new record holder has been discovered 60 meters underground in a borehole in a mining area in Western Australia. The creature is named Eumillipes persephone, partly after the Greek mythological goddess of the underworld, Persephone, who originally lived on the surface but was brought to the underworld by Hades.

Less than a millimeter wide but nearly 10 centimeters long, the string-like creature has “a cone-shaped head with huge antennae and a beak-shaped mouth for eating,” say the researchers. The animal is blind and colorless, characteristics that are typical of animals that spend their entire lives underground. The females have more legs than the males.

The centipede stretches its body making it even thinner and thus fits into small cracks. The many legs propel the body forward and break open slits and fissures.

Centipedes are among the first animals on Earth to conquer the land from the sea and breathe air. Some long-extinct species were over two meters long.

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