期刊
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
卷 11, 期 1, 页码 -出版社
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02447-0
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资金
- National Science Foundation [1916368]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1916368] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
The name "millipede" comes from Latin, meaning "thousand feet," but no millipede has been found with more than 750 legs. A new species of millipede, Eumillipes persephone, with a record-setting 1,306 legs was discovered in Western Australia. This tiny animal, with unique features, was found 60 meters below ground in a drill hole and possesses troglomorphic characteristics.
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.
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