A group of members of the Croatian Society of Biospeleology (Croatia) has discovered the centipede that lives deeper in the earth. It is about a new species that has been baptized as, Geophilus hadesi, by Hades, the god of the underworld in Greek mythology . The finding has been published in the magazine ZooKeys .
This new species of centipede has been found in three caves in Velebit (Croatia), the largest of the mountain ranges in this country, in one of the most remote caves in the world , about 1,100 meters deep, an unprecedented distance.
Centipedes are carnivores and survive on a diet of other invertebrate animals. Their habitat being caves is exceptionally rare in this group of geofilomorphs .
This amazing dark cave creature, Geophilus hadesi , has powerful jaws that carry poisonous glands and also long, curved claws that allow it to firmly capture and hold its prey. It has elongated antennae and trunk segments, common features of cave-dwelling arthropods.
“When I first saw the animal and its striking appearance, I immediately realized that it was a new one, hitherto unnamed and highly adapted to the species in the cave environment. This finding goes to show once again how little we know about cave life, where even in the best-prospected areas, incredible animals can still be found ”, says Pavel Stoev, from the National Museum of Natural History, in Sofia (Bulgaria ) and study leader.
