A previously unknown species has been discovered lurking in the parks of Los Angeles and Orange counties.
The animal boasts 486 legs and a toothy, Predator-style head. It has the greenish translucence of a glow-in-the-dark toy in daylight, and weaves through the soil as elegantly as an embroiderer’s needle.
But step away from the microscope and the Los Angeles thread millipede (Illacme socal) becomes a lot less intimidating. With the width of a thin mechanical pencil lead and the length of a sewing pin, it’s easy to see how this tiny, thread-like snippet of an invertebrate has gone unnoticed—until now.
With the publication late last month of a paper formally introducing the critter, the Los Angeles thread millipede joins roughly 12,000 other named millipede species worldwide.
The discovery is a tiny reminder of the vast kingdom of small animals at the base of the world’s ecosystems, a universe of minuscule creatures at risk of being lost before we can appreciate the essential role they play.
2023-07-15 17:24:03
Article from phys.org