Tag Archives: millipedes

Extinct ‘Mega Claw’ Creature Had Spider-Like Brain

UA Regents’ Professor Nicholas Strausfeld and an international team of researchers have discovered the earliest known complete nervous system exquisitely preserved in the fossilized remains of a never-before described creature that crawled or swam in the ocean 520 million years ago.

A team of researchers led by University of Arizona Regents’ Professor Nick Strausfeld and London Natural History Museum’s Greg Edgecombe have discovered the earliest known complete nervous system, exquisitely preserved in the fossilized remains of a never-before described creature that crawled or swam in the ocean 520 million years ago.

The find suggests that the ancestors of chelicerates – spiders, scorpions and their kin – branched off from the family tree of other arthropods – including insects, crustaceans and millipedes – more than half a billion years ago. (more…)

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Glow-in-the-Dark Millipede Says ‘Stay Away’

*The world’s only bioluminescent millipedes use their glow as a warning signal to nocturnal predators, a UA-led research team has discovered.*

As night falls in certain mountain regions in California, a strange breed of creepy crawlies emerges from the soil: millipedes that glow in the dark. The reason behind the glowing secret has stumped biologists until now.

Paul Marek, a research associate in the University of Arizona’s department of entomology and Center for Insect Science, and his team now provide the first evidence gained from field experiments of bioluminescence being used as a warning signal. They discovered that the nightly glow of millipedes belonging to the genus Motyxia helps the multi-legged invertebrates avoid attacks by predators. (more…)

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