Found the world’s largest millipede fossil

The fossil was first discovered in 2018 when a large rock mass collapsed on the beach at Howick Bay at Northumberland beach.

– It was a completely random discovery. The way the stone had fallen and opened up made the fossil look perfect. It was one of our former PhD students who had accidentally discovered the fossil when he passed by, says researcher Neil Davies, at Cambridge University, who has analyzed the fossil, according to BBC.

The researchers estimate that the millipede, also known as Arthropleura, was over 2.5 meters long and that it weighed around 50 kilograms.

The plan is for the fossil to be exhibited Cambridge’s Sedgwick Museum during 2022.

– Very rarely

When the massive reptile lived about 326 million years ago, there was a far more tropical climate in the north of England than there is today.

This fossil was found in what scientists believe was an ancient river channel.

However, scientists believe that the fossil may not actually contain the body of a dead creature, but only an outer skeleton that loosened as the massive millipede grew.

“The Thing” has finally been identified

– Finding these massive millipede fossils is very rare, because when they died, their bodies were often disarticulated. Therefore, it is likely that the fossil is just an outer skeleton, says Davies and adds:

– We have not yet found a fossil head, so it is difficult to know everything about how they were.

Third in the world

Nevertheless, researchers can say with certainty that the large millipedes did not have 1000 bones, similar to the millipedes that exist today. The researchers estimate that the large millipedes had between 32 and 64 bones.

The fossil that has now been found is only the third Arthropleura to have been discovered.