First "True" Millipede Species that Actually has 1,000 Legs

by Camila Cruz, age 14

The millipede is the animal with the most legs to ever exist. Recently, scientists discovered the first real millipede species in Australia, 200-feet-below the surface.

You might be confused about how it was the first real millipede. All the millipedes that were previously discovered aren’t actually millipedes, since they don’t have 1000 legs. The newly discovered species has around 1,306 legs and no eyes. They were found 200 feet underground, so the creatures are colorless. Lacking color is common for animals that live where the sun does not reach. They are shaped like worms and have cone-shaped heads, which makes it easier for them to move around and dig.

The word millipede is derived from Eumillipes persephone, named after Persephone, the Greek goddess, queen of the underworld. Millipede is Latin for “a thousand feet.” Millipedes can start off by having only eight legs but as their skin sheds, they grow longer giving them more legs. By size, this is the longest species by far. The previous worldrecord holder was a female millipede that was just less than four inches long and only had 750 legs.

In 2020, a team led by Bruno Buzatto of Australia's Macquarie University attended the Western Goldfields of Australia in search of millipedes and other creatures living underground. The area is known for having rich gold and nickel deposits. Mining companies became aware of these deposits because they dig deep holes in the ground that are around six inches wide; these are known to be good sizes to trap underground creatures. This is how they discovered the species known as millipedes.

It shows that after so much time exploring there are still many species and ecosystems that still have yet to be discovered.

[Source: National Geographics]