There may be those who think that centipedes and millipedes differ only in the number of their feet, although they all belong to arthropods, they have significant differences. Centipedes have 1-1 pairs of legs on the side of each flattened part of their body, and millipedes have two pairs of legs wedged under their bodies in each rounder part. While centipedes are very fast rushing predators, millipedes are slow, relaxed animals and strictly speaking herbivores. Estimated that approx. 8000 species of centipedes, and about. There may be 80,000 feet in the world, of which only a portion is known. Despite its name, the species with the largest number of legs among the thousand feet so far was “only” 750 feet.
Recently, a new species of millipede was found underground, which in this regard can really be considered from A to Z, the number of feet exceeds a thousand: 1306, and this animal is omelips persephone got a name. About Discovery A Scientific Reports reported in a scientific journal.
The animal also had a respectably elongated body of many feet, less than one millimeter thick and measuring 55 millimeters (male) and 96 millimeters (female) long. The recorder’s leg was worn by a female—and yes, the researcher dealing with it has systematically counted the legs.
Electron micrograph of the animal’s head and abdomen. Antennas on either side of the wedge-shaped head are used to scan underground gaps into which they can then travel. On the right edge, the scale line is half a millimeter.
Source: Scientific Reports
Why is this animal such a small thread? Australian millipede from under the surface It has appeared, and its superior ability is to easily dig itself into the ground with its thin body, hence its name. the “omelipsIt means a real thousand feet, and the second half of the name was given to the Greek goddess of the underworld ‘Persephone’ part-time, referring to her semi-underground lifestyle. Although animal feed has not yet been revealed, it is assumed based on relatives Who have similar lifestyles that they are found in soil with fungi.Although the surface of the animal can reach 46 ° C, depths in the soil where this logger is a thousand feet long has a constant temperature of 22 ° C, as well as groundwater. The animal was first found in 60m deep pits in mineral research, its underground life lacks eyes, and its outer covering is colorless.Once (talking about millions of years ago), when Western Australia was a colder and wetter place, the animal could have It lives on the surface, however, along with many other animals that live here, it went underground with the warming and perfectly adapted to the subsurface lifestyle.Prefers the deeper granular layers in the soil where it uses the gaps formed between the granules as a passageway.The slender body Very, very small feet are adapted to this, and the animal may have become too tall to compensate for the smaller thrust due to its small size with the amount of legs.
The newly discovered animal could be threatened by mining because, although its habitat is a dense semi-desert where nothing can be done on the surface, it represents very important deposits of gold, nickel and many other minerals in Australia, and only the oldest Our planet, 2.6-4, we can also taste rocks that are 4 billion years old. However, mining exploration also provides insights into the underground world, so it’s easy for other animals with similar lifestyles to live here and might even discover it one day.
