EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Despite the common name, no millipede was known to have 1, 000 legs until 2021: common species have between 34 and 400 legs, and the record is held by Eumillipes persephone, with individuals possessing up to 1, 306 legs – more than any other creature on Earth.

Detailed explanation-2: -The number of legs a millipede will have varies and is dependent on the species. Millipedes have four pairs of legs per segment, and the number of segments per species is around 25 to 100. Most species of millipede will have 300 legs, sometimes a bit more.

Detailed explanation-3: -The number of body segments varies with the species (estimated in the range of 10, 000 species), but the number of pairs of legs generally ranges between 40 and 400. The females of a nearly extinct species of California millipede have up to 750 legs.

Detailed explanation-4: -Abstract. The name “millipede” translates to a thousand feet (from mille “thousand” and pes “foot”). However, no millipede has ever been described with more than 750 legs. We discovered a new record-setting species of millipede with 1, 306 legs, Eumillipes persephone, from Western Australia.

Detailed explanation-5: -"We believe that the large number of legs provides an advantage in terms of traction/force to push their bodies forward through small gaps and fractures in the soil where they live, ” says Buzatto.