Illacme plenipes
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A female with 662 legs. |
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| Cook & Loomis , 1928 |
Illacme plenipes is a millipede that hasthe most legswithin this superclass . The specimen with the most legs counted had 750. It was the animal with the most legs ever counted. The species is endemic and only known from three localities in the northwestern foothills of the Gabilan Range in San Benito County in California , which are a maximum of 4.5 km apart. It is the only member of the Siphonorhinidae family in the western hemisphere.
The first time Illacme plenipes was found in 1926. The exact location is not known, the first descriptors Cook and Loomis write in 1928
"A short distance after crossing the divide between Salinas and San Juan Bautista ... in a small valley of a northern slope wooded with oaks, under a rather large stone"
"A short distance after crossing the watershed between Salinas and San Juan Bautista ... on a northern slope overgrown with oaks in a small valley, under a fairly large stone"
The find in the field remained unique until 2005, only 17 specimens are known from museums and natural history collections. In 2005 another twelve specimens, four males, three females and five juveniles were discovered in California. The females had at least 660 feet, the male specimens a maximum of 402. The female specimens with up to 171 body segments were up to 33.2 millimeters long and 0.5 millimeters wide. The male Illacme plenipes were a maximum of 16.15 millimeters long and had up to 105 segments. The head of research, Paul Marek, now called for the 0.8 square kilometer area to be placed under nature protection in order to save the rediscovered species from extinction.
Web links
- Article on ORF (accessed October 29, 2019)
Individual evidence
- ↑ A redescription of the leggiest animal, the millipede Illacme plenipes, with notes on its natural history and biogeography (Diplopoda, Siphonophorida, Siphonorhinidae). Retrieved August 17, 2020 .
- ^ A b Paul E. Marek, William A. Shear and Jason E. Bond : A redescription of the leggiest animal, the millipede Illacme plenipes, with notes on its natural history and biogeography (Diplopoda, Siphonophorida, Siphonorhinidae). In: ZooKeys. Volume 241, 2012, pp. 77–112, doi: 10.3897 / zookeys.241.3831 (full text freely accessible).
- ↑ Cook & Loomis: Millipedes of the order Colobognatha, with descriptions of six new genera and type species, from Arizona and California. in: Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington DC 72.1928, 1-26, f. 1-6, pls. 1-2. ISSN 0096-3801
- ^ Paul E. Marek, Jason E. Bond: Biodiversity hotspots. Rediscovery of the world's leggiest animal. in: Nature . June 8, 2006. ISSN 0028-0836