The giant millipede known as Arthropleura, which lived during the Carboniferous period, is not only a source of nightmares for insectophobes and the largest arthropod in history but also a topic of heated debate among scientists. A new discovery has helped answer several questions while raising many new ones.
Researchers from Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 in France have, for the first time, found the head of a fossilized millipede. They reported the discovery in the journal Science Advances.
Arthropleura roamed the landscapes of North America and Europe during the Carboniferous period (358 – 298 million years ago), and it has been 170 years since the discovery of its remains. Since its discovery, this giant arthropod was categorized as a crustacean and a sea scorpion, but scientists eventually agreed that it is indeed a millipede (Myriapoda) measuring 2.6 meters in length.
3However, the absence of a head in the fossilized remains made it difficult to determine its closest relatives. Millipedes are divided into several classes, among which the largest are the centipedes (Chilopoda) and the diplopods (Diplopoda). For a long time, scientists unsuccessfully tried to classify Arthropleura into one of these two classes.
4 5The new study indicates that the giants of the Carboniferous forests were likely closer to modern thousand-legged creatures than to centipedes. However, they are still not classified as diplopods.
6Interestingly, structures were found on the head of Arthropleura that are not seen in millipedes at all, such as stalked eyes. This feature is more characteristic of aquatic species than terrestrial ones.
7Nevertheless, scientists suggest that the discovered head belonged to a young individual. This means it is possible that it spent its youth in water and became fully terrestrial in adulthood. Whether they had specialized organs for breathing in water remains unclear.
The question of Arthropleura's diet also remains open, although it is believed that it scavenged the forests for decaying plant matter.
8As previously reported, scientists recently described a new species of wasps that lay their eggs in adult flies. The larva then burrows its way out and literally bursts from the chest, much like a xenomorph in the movie "Alien."