The longest centipede ever discovered, with 1,306 feet, was recently found by scientists in a mining area in Western Australia, making it also the animal with the largest number of legs found to date. The centipede, which was discovered 60 meters underground through a drilling hole created while conducting an underground environmental impact assessment in Australia, belongs to a new variety called Eumillipes Persephone and is about 10 cm long and one mm wide.
The number of his legs managed to amaze the researchers, who published their findings last weekend in the journal Scientific Reports, as to date no maximum legs with more than 750 feet have been found. The researchers added that although most of the legs have lived on Earth for more than 400 million years, among the oldest animals that exist to date, they have not been privileged to be under a magnifying glass by many researchers, despite their ecological importance in filtering groundwater and environmental toxins.
In addition, the researchers found that unlike most familiar legs, this creature was found to be lacking in eyes and pigmentation and therefore its body color was yellow. The researchers also found that the new species is a distant relative of the previous record holder for the largest number of legs (750), Illacme Plenipes, located in central California.
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