Giant Millipede Impedes Evolution
If you head north in England, you will reach the ceremonial county of Northumberland. Find Howick and head for the North Sea. If you go for a stroll, be careful walking on boulders, and watch out for overhangs. Boulders fall. Also watch out for millipedes as big as cars.
As big as cars? By length, mayhaps, but not by weight or width. And not living. An incomplete fossil was discovered in one of the aforementioned boulders that fell and broke open.
Arthropleura, extinct millipede, model. Maker: Peter Roberts, Photographer: Benjamin Healley Source: Museums Victoria (CC BY 4.0) |
British scientists have discovered a new fossil of a giant millipede called Arthropleura that they describe as “the largest arthropod in Earth history” and represent “the remains of the largest individual arthropod known to have evolved.” . . . From the fossilized remains, the scientists estimated the original organism would have been a whopping 2.63 m long and 55 cm wide (103 x 22 inches). It would have weighed almost 50 kg (110 lbs). That’s some millipede, and considerably larger than even the biggest species known today.
To read the entire article, shake a leg and get on over to "Mightiest, ‘multi-million-year-old’ millipede." Also, the short video commentary below starts at the 14:02 mark: