The
anatomical secrets of the world's leggiest creature, a millipede with 750 legs,
have been revealed by scientists.
The
species, called Illacme plenipes, was first seen 80 years ago but was
recently rediscovered
in California.
Now
researchers have found that as well as bearing an extreme number of legs, the
creature may have more in common with millipedes that lived millions of years
ago than today's species.
The
study is published in the
journal ZooKeys.
"It's
a kind of mythical creature in the millipede world," said Dr Paul Marek,
an entomologist from the University of Arizona and the lead author of the
paper.
Record
breaker
In
2005, Dr Marek and his brother discovered some of the leggy arthropods lurking
under boulders in the mountains of California. Until
then, I.plenipes had not been glimpsed since 1926.
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