The First True Millipede – 1306 Legs Long

Australian scientists have discovered a millipede (class Diplopoda), with more legs than any other known animal.

The pale-coloured myriapod has more than 1,300 legs in an elongated body about 95mm long. It has been named Eumillipes Persephone, and was found almost 60 metres (200ft) underground in a mining region in Western Australia. 

The invertebrate's scientific name means "true thousand feet". ‘Persephone’ is a reference to Greek mythology, where the queen of the underworld has that name. 

Like many subterranean animals, it has no eyes and is colorless. Scientists suspect that it lives on fungi. 

Virginia Tech entomologist Paul Marek, lead author of the research published in the journal Scientific Reports, told the Reuters news agency: "Previously no known millipede actually had 1,000 legs despite the name millipede meaning 'thousand feet'". 

An adult female in the study had 1,306 legs and another had 998. Two adult males had 818 legs and 778 legs. 

Millipedes first appeared more than 400 million years ago. There are approximately 12,000 named species classified into 16 orders and around 140 families, making Diplopoda the largest class of myriapods, an arthropod group which also includes centipedes and other multi-legged creatures. 

"In my opinion this is a stunning animal, a marvel of evolution", said study co-author Bruno Buzatto, a principal biologist at Bennelongia Environmental Consultants in Perth, Australia. 

"It represents the most extreme elongation found to date in millipedes, which were the first animals to conquer land".