‘Leggiest millipede on Earth’ discovered in Australia
The “leggiest millipede on Earth” has been discovered
The new species has 1,306 legs
It’s the first millipede with over 1,000 legs to be discovered
BENNELONGIA ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS BIOLOGIST, BRUNO BUZATTO: "I was instantly mind-blown by the fact that it was clearly the leggiest millipede on Earth. I could tell straight away. It took us ages to know the exact number of legs because it's a very tiny animal but it looked like it was something special straight away."
It was discovered in an area of Western Australia
where miners dig for gold and other minerals
The species was found in 2020 but only recently publicized
BIOLOGIST AT BENNELONGIA ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS, BRUNO BUZATTO: "What I'd like to say, and I think is quite cool, is that the name millipede was always biologically inaccurate because no millipede had actually a thousand legs as the name suggests and now we just made the name accurate which is kind of cool."
