Story at a glance
- Researchers from the University of Cambridge discovered the fossil of a creature called Arthropleura that dates back about 326 million years ago.
- Based on the fossil, researchers estimate the creature measured nearly 9 feet long, 22 inches wide and weighed more than 110 pounds.
- The fossil was likely a moulted segment of the creature’s exoskeleton that filled with sand and was preserved for hundreds of millions of years.
Scientists have stumbled upon what is the largest-known arthropod to have ever roamed the Earth: a giant millipede-like creature the length of a car.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge discovered the fossil of a creature called Arthropleura that dates back about 326 million years ago, which is more than 100 million years before the age of the dinosaurs.
The fossil was found in a block of sandstone next to a coastal cliff in northern England’s Northumberland beach in early 2018 and is the largest and oldest of the species. It is just the third such fossil of the giant millipede ever found. Previous discoveries are much smaller than the new specimen.
Based on the fossil, scientists estimate the creature measured nearly 9 feet long, 22 inches wide and weighed more than 110 pounds. The research was published in the Journal of the Geological Society.
America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.
Researchers said the fossil was likely a moulted segment of the creature’s exoskeleton that filled with sand and was preserved for hundreds of millions of years.
“It was a complete fluke of a discovery,” Neil Davies, the study’s lead author, said in a statement.
“The way the boulder had fallen, it had cracked open and perfectly exposed the fossil, which one of our former PhD students happened to spot when walking by,” Davies said.
It’s not exactly clear how the millipedes grew so large, but researchers believe they must have eaten a nutritious diet.
“While we can’t know for sure what they ate, there were plenty of nutritious nuts and seeds available in the leaf litter at the time, and they may even have been predators that fed off other invertebrates and even small vertebrates such as amphibians,” Davies added.
The specimen is set to go on public display at Cambridge’s Sedgwick Museum in 2022.
READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA
WHY AMERICA HAS THE MOST TORNADOES IN THE WORLD
THE SYMPTOM THAT TELLS YOU YOU’VE CAUGHT OMICRON
HUGE PLANET FOUND ORBITING TWO OF THE UNIVERSE’S HOTTEST AND BIGGEST STARS
LAWMAKERS LINING UP BEHIND BILL TO BRING FOUR-DAY WORK WEEK TO AMERICA
EXPERTS SAY YOU SHOULD WATCH FOR AN UNUSUAL OMICRON SYMPTOM IN KIDS
changing america copyright.
