millipedes
100 million years before the dinosaurs, the biggest known bug
A millipede with more than 1000 legs
Precambrian creature scrunches the origin of life even further
Oldest “bug” is 425 million years old, 75 million years earlier than expected
Millipedes found in 100 mya amber comprise 13 of 16 known groups
From ScienceDaily: Over 450 millipedes, fossilized in 100-million-year-old Burmese amber, were recently discovered by a research team. Using micro-CT technology, the scientists identified 13 out of the 16 main groups of modern millipedes amongst them. For half of these groups, the findings also represent the oldest known fossils. … According to the scientists, most of the Cretaceous millipedes found in the amber do not differ significantly from the species found in Southeast Asia nowadays, which is an indication of the old age of the extant millipede lineages. On the other hand, the diversity of the different orders seems to have changed drastically. For example, during the Age of the Dinosaurs, the group Colobognatha — millipedes characterised by their unusual elongated Read More ›