The exoskeleton discovered is the largest ever observed. These giant arthropods roamed the Earth during the Carboniferous, between 359 and 299 million years ago.
The fossilized exoskeleton of the largest arthropod ever has been discovered. It is a giant, centipede-like creature that was the length of a car. This species probably roamed the Earth during the Carboniferous period, that is, between 359 and 299 million years ago. It was found by researchers in the United Kingdom. The ancestors of millipedes are known as Arthropleura and are known to scientists, but the new fragment confirms that these ancient invertebrates could have grown to be much larger than previously thought.
Fossil discovery found in England
The team located the Arthropleura fossil within a fragmented block of sandstone on a beach in Northumberland in northeast England. The discovery dates back to 2018 and the specimen has been dated may be about 326 million years old. Neil Davies, a geologist in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge in England and lead researcher on the study, explained that the discovery of the fossil was “very lucky” because the area where the exoskeleton was found “is not a known place for fossils.”
The fossil was also found by chance by a former PhD student passing through the area. Cast exoskeletons normally don’t fossilize well because they break down quickly. But this one was exceptionally well preserved. To date, only two other Arthropleura fossils had been found, both in Germany. However, the English one is the oldest and largest ever discovered.
What to know about the largest centipede fossil ever seen
The exoskeleton fragment in England is 75 centimeters long and 55 centimeters wide. That means the complete individual would have been about 2.6 meters long and weighing roughly 50 pounds. According to Neil Davies, Arthropleura would have been the largest animals on Earth in the Carboniferous. So far, no Arthropleura heads have ever been found, so scholars are not sure what the specimens of this species ate. It’s thought likely they were vegetarian and fed on trees, plants and nuts.
It’s also unclear how many legs Arthropleura may have had. “The most complete ones are thought to have 32 segments, but it’s not clear whether they had two legs per segment (64 legs) or every two segments (32 legs),” Davies said. Traces left behind by this individual suggest it had at least 20 legs.
Recently, however, a new species of millipede has been discovered that currently exists and comes in at 1,300 legs. In any case, in 2021, 70 new species between animals and plants have been discovered.
Stefania Bernardini