Eumillipes persephone, the world’s first “true” millipede — a species that lives up to the Latin root of its name by actually possessing more than 1,000 legs, setting a new record for the most legs on any animal known to science.
Found deep underground in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia, this slender, thread-like millipede was extracted from a drill hole used for mineral exploration. The species was formally described by an international team of scientists in a 2021 study published in Scientific Reports.
Eumillipes persephone may measure only around 96 mm (about 3.8 in) long and less than a millimetre wide, but it boasts an astonishing 1,306 legs distributed over up to 330 body segments — far surpassing the previous leggiest known millipede, Illacme plenipes, which has up to 750 legs. The species’ generic name, Eumillipes, comes from Greek and Latin roots meaning “‘true thousand feet’,” acknowledging that it is the first millipede discovered with more than 1,000 legs. The specific name persephone pays homage to the Greek goddess of the underworld, reflecting the creature’s subterranean lifestyle deep beneath the Earth’s surface.
Adapted to a troglomorphic existence, E. persephone lacks eyes and pigmentation and uses its hundreds of tiny legs to navigate narrow fissures and soil tunnels. Its record-setting anatomy not only expands scientific understanding of arthropod diversity but emphasizes how much remains to be discovered in remote and hidden habitats. This discovery rewrites the textbook definition of millipedes and stands as a remarkable addition to the catalogue of Earth’s biodiversity.
