Officially Recognized: With 1306 Legs, This Millipede Holds the Record for the Most Legs of Any Animal

If the sight of scuttling invertebrates makes you uneasy, stop reading here. Otherwise, allow us to introduce you to Eumillipes persephone, a newly identified millipede species boasting an extraordinary 1306 legs.

This leg-laden creature was uncovered about 200 feet underground during a mining exploration in none other than Australia

. Measuring inches in length and only four-hundredths of an inch wide, it outpaces every other known animal in leg count.

A view from below reveals the legs of a male Eumillipes persephone. | "The first true millipede—1,306 legs long," Paul E. Marek, Bruno A. Buzatto, William A. Shear, Jackson C. Means, Dennis G. Black, Mark S. Harvey, Juanita Rodriguez, Scientific Reports.

The discovery, published in Scientific Reports, suggests that this might be the first true millipede found—its name means 'thousand feet,' but no species had ever been observed with that many legs. Typically, millipedes have between 100 and 200 legs, while centipedes can reach close to 400.

“In my opinion, this is an astonishing creature, a testament to evolution,” Bruno Buzatto, co-author of the study and principal biologist at Bennelongia Environmental Consultants in Perth, Australia, told Reuters. “It represents the most extreme elongation ever recorded in millipedes, which were the first animals to conquer land. This species, in particular, has adapted to living tens of meters underground in an arid, harsh environment where few millipedes survive on the surface.”

Having such an abundance of legs has likely provided an advantage to Eumillipes persephone, enabling it to use its propulsion to dig deeper and navigate narrower passages in the soil.

A top-down view of the head and a bottom-up view of the gonopods of a male Eumillipes persephone. | "The first true millipede—1,306 legs long," Paul E. Marek, Bruno A. Buzatto, William A. Shear, Jackson C. Means, Dennis G. Black, Mark S. Harvey, Juanita Rodriguez, Scientific Reports.

Four millipedes were discovered, none alive, and only one had 1306 legs. The others had 998 or fewer. Researchers note that the leg count isn’t consistent, as these millipedes gain and shed four-legged segments throughout their lives during molting. The older a millipede, the more legs it tends to have. It’s possible that somewhere, a specimen with even more legs is yet to be found.