There are quite a few millipede enthusiasts out there, and the number grows daily. Despite their name, no millipedes have been discovered with 1000 legs, but there are known species out there with 750!
This article also talks about the new venomous species recently found by a Virginia Tech entomologist, we shared that with you here.
The Appalachians is the perfect place for a millipede lab!
…last time scientists counted there were 12,000 different species of millipede, from the delicately banded desert millipede to the garish, recently identified, poisonous Apheloria polychroma. The search for more goes on. “This part of the Appalachians has an outstanding biodiversity and we often encounter many species which are new to science,” Marek says.
In 2013, Marek became curator of the university’s 400,000-strong insect and arthropod collection, which dates back to the 19th century and includes many thousands of millipedes. “We looked at the specimens in that collection and mapped them on Google Earth,” he says. The resulting millipede map helps Marek’s team decide where to search next. “We like to think of our process of discovery as a big obscure puzzle. Everytime we find a millipede we add a piece to that puzzle,” Hennen explains. “So it’s pretty fun.”
