This new species has to be the stuff of nightmares! Explorers in California have discovered a new species of creepy crawly which has 200 poison glands, four penises and 414 legs!
The ‘illacme tobini’ is a type of millipede and was found living in marble caves in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
“I never would have expected that a second species of the leggiest animal on the planet would be discovered in a cave 150 miles away,” said Assistant Professor in the Entomology Department at Virginia Tech Paul Marek, an expert in all things millipedes.
Illacme tobini, like its leggier cousin, can produce silk but what is amazing and make it stand out is the fact that has the ability to transform four of its legs into penises. Glands which squirt a chemical poison are designed to scare off predators.
The Illacme tobini was discovered by cave biologist Dr Jean Krejca, who has also documented new species of spiders, pseudoscorpions and flies.
According to a research paper on the new discovery published in ZooKeys journal, “due to the sensitivity of its cave habitat, locality details are withheld” – so there’s no chance for you to collect one of these critters to keep just yet.