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Millipede Lab

@apheloria.bsky.social
699 followers 737 following 31 posts

A central mission of our research is the exploration and description of biodiversity, especially Appalachian millipede species.

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invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
some spooky glowing millipede stuff
a set of Aniulus garius posterior gonopods. they’re two-branched, looking like two long thin overlapping blades with the upper pair longer and hooked at the end with tiny serrations, shorter lower pair ending in a fine pointa set of Aniulus garius posterior gonopods. they’re two-branched, looking like two long thin overlapping blades with the upper pair longer and strongly bent at about 2/3 from the base, shorter lower pair ending in a fine pointAniulus garius anterior gonopods: a short, scoop-shaped blade that’s folded over on itself, with a fuzzy lobe in front Aniulus garius anterior gonopods: a short, leaf-shaped blade with a fuzzy lobe in front
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Julia Van Etten @couchmicroscopy.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Protists deserve the spotlight and so do scientists! This was such an honor but mostly, this project reminded me why I have the best job and friends/colleagues in the world! 🔬
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Philadelphia Inquirer @inquirer.com · 28/09/2026
“You close museums, you close minds,” said Suzanne Ryan, a retired teacher and grandmother who has volunteered at the Academy of Natural Sciences since June.
inquirer.com
A final day at the Academy of Natural Sciences brought tears, nostalgia, and disbelief
Inside the museum, a steady stream of visitors took photos, touched the skin of a scaly anteater being circulated by educators, and guided toddlers in dinosaur costumes through exhibits.
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invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
These two are different species in the genus Cleidogona, yet I’d never know this without their gonopods. New species of small, secretive millipedes are everywhere. But until they’re recognized, they and all the important things they do in ecosystems are at risk of disappearing before we know them.
A brown millipede with long legs and several short spiky hairs per segment. It’s the same species as the dissected one above. A brown millipede with long legs and several short spiky hairs per segment. It’s essentially identical to the other one, but actually a rather different species.
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Rodrigo Monjaraz Ruedas @monroderik.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
New Postdoc opportunity to join my lab @nhm.org working with Phylogenomics of Soft Spiders (Fam. Cybaeidae) in collaboration with @mhedin.bsky.social, help me spread the word! workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
workforcenow.adp.com
Recruitment
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Nathan Whelan @nathan-whelan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Screenshot of graduate student recruitment flyer found at https://nathanwhelan.com/assests/Grad_Recruitment_2026.pdf
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invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Millipede genitalia are often made of a type of exoskeleton that fluoresces under UV, so I use an ultraviolet flashlight to reveal tiny details of their gonopods. Why? Many closely related millipedes appear identical save for their reproductive structures—it’s necessary for identification.
A glass dish fluorescing yellow, with a glass microvial fluorescing blue. A pile of legs and a set of tiny gonopods just millimeters tall rest near the headless body of a Cleidogona millipede specimen. A black flashlight creates a shadow in the foreground. Left, lateral view of gonopods. They’re shaped like two bars bent inwards towards each other, making a rectangular shape. The front-facing part (angiocoxites) is thicker with a long triangular point, and the smaller posterior parts (colpocoxites) are club-shaped with a thick spine. Right top and bottom are respectively anterior and posterior views of the gonopods. The anterior view shows the angiocoxites like a pair of thick bars tapering towards the top, where the points flare out again. The posterior view shows the points of the angiocoxites overlapping the top of the colpocoxites, which are joined at the base in a Y-shape. The whole structure is fluorescing bright green-blue.
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Subterranean Biology @subtbiol.pensoft.net · 04/09/2026
🕷️ New #millipede species Bollmanella amorensis described from Labor of Love Cave, Nevada. Study also reports new records of two other millipedes plus ecological notes on the distinctiveness of Great Basin Desert cave fauna. 👉 doi.org/10.3897/subt...
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CETAF - Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org · 15/09/2026
New millipede diversity from Tanzania! A new study from the Udzungwa Mountains describes new species and records of Eviulisoma. Read more here: europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ej... #Biodiversity #Taxonomy #Millipedes #Tanzania
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Russell Garwood @russellgarwood.co.uk · 15/09/2026
Interested in how species diversity is split between major animal groups? Here is the infographic for you! 🧪⚒️🦀🦑 #evosky
An infographic showing the number of described and estimated species for major animal groups. There are more insects than anything else. Of the remaining groups, arachnids and nematodes are the most diverse.
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Marshal Hedin @mhedin.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
with my wonderful colleague @monroderik.bsky.social, just published "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been: Miocene Salinian Block Migration and the Biogeography of Megahexura Spiders" in J BioG dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbi.... novel CA biogeographic story! not OA ... please contact me if you need a copy
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Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Taxonomic work is not glorious, does not bring accolades, and is taken for granted. Often dismissed as scientific paper pushing. But let me tell you... when it's not clear which kind of animal you're on about for saving/protecting/etc, don't come running to me!
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Biodiversity Data Journal @bdj.pensoft.net · 27/08/2026
🐛Giant African #millipedes are popular in US zoos & education programs, but many come from poorly-documented sources like the exotic trade. That makes species ID tricky, complicating permitting, care protocols, and sharing accurate #naturalhistory info with the public: doi.org/10.3897/BDJ....
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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
And if you're wondering how we know that celebrity naming "works" - well, we've done the science on that! scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2024/02/06/i...
scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com
If celebrity Latin names are a ploy for media attention, do they work?
Taylor Swift is in the news again.* So it’s a good time to point out, again, that there’s a millipede named after her (Nannaria swiftae), and a spider (Castianeira swiftay), and if there aren’t mor…
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Millipede Lab @apheloria.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
For decades, a large millipede displayed in zoos has been known simply as a “giant African millipede.” But what species is it actually? Our new study provides an answer: Spiropoeus fischeri Brandt, 1833, a 14-cm-long millipede from West Africa.
Two figures from a scientific article. One shows a large black millipede, and the second shows the millipedes posterior end.
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invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
complex. symmetrical. undeniably stylish male gonopods, belonging to the crested millipedes in the genus Abacion
a pair of gonopods, they’re difficult to describe with words. the base of each is thick, boxlike, and three branches sprout from them, arising from the inner surface of the boxes: the lowest and thinnest are simple thin spikes directed at angles outwards; behind them a taller, thicker column, crowned with a pincerlike arrangement of twisted spines splaying out to the side, the largest curved, broad, and spoonlike; and a third, stout spine stands up from about the middle of the boxlike structure. the side of the box facing the camera has a soft membrane with a sparse tuft of long bristles a similar structure but the third spikes are thinner and straighter, and the complicated crowns of the second bit differs a little in the angles of the pieces
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BehavEcolPapers @behavecolpapers.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Eyespots in Automeris Moths Mimic Sympatric Owl Species (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) Ecol&Evol
dlvr.it
Eyespots in Automeris Moths Mimic Sympatric Owl Species (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)
Ecology and Evolution, Volume 16, Issue 8, August 2026.
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Marshal Hedin @mhedin.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
perhaps a flat-backed pede?, from Sequoia NP love the spiked body rings, and fancy lateral lobes
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invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Some tiny “pill millipedes” from Tennessee. On the right is an Onomeris, a member of order Glomerida, all of which are adapted to roll into spheres. Left is Desmonus earlei, a modified polydesmidan “flat-backed” millipede. Several polydesmidan families have independently adapted a volvating form.
two brown millipedes are curled tightly into spheres. the left one is bumpy and paler, and the right one is darker brown, smooth, and shiny
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Plazi @plazi-species.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
#NewSpecies! New #katydid from #usa just chirped: Phymonotus glyphopyrenos Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/03B487CF-... Publication: doi.org/10.11646/zoo... #Zootaxa #PhymonotusGlyphopyrenos #FAIRdata #OA #taxonomy #biodiversity #nature #conservation #fauna #entomology #insects #orthoptera
Living Phymonotus glyphopyrenos, male.
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Evelyndroid's Aperture Science and Bugge-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Bristlepede 🤎 Polyxenus sp bristle millipede. Just a couple millimeters long.
Tiny brown millipede which looks like a swiffer mop head or something - floof between each body segment and bristly tufts covering the legs all around the lower edge of the creature. Chilling on a flake of pine bark
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Wayne Maddison @waynemaddison.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Scientific fashions, perfectionisms, and the value of traditional morphological taxonomy. #evolbio #philsci 🧪 waynemaddison.wordpress.com/2026/07/16/s...
waynemaddison.wordpress.com
Scientific fashions, perfectionisms, and the value of traditional morphological taxonomy
Like any conversation, science goes through wave after wave of fashion. One decade, it will be all the rage to study one type of question, and to shun sloppiness of one kind but tolerate another. A…
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Soma Chiyoda @somainsect1213.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
New paper out!!! We report five millipede species recorded in Japan for the first time, all from the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands! 🇯🇵🏝️ Also, we focus on two Prosopodesmus species with different adult male segment numbers (20 vs 19) to discuss the evolution of their life history. It's open access!
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invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
previously, I reared this incredibly handsome Pachydesmus to adulthood with the same method and diet. despite his impressive size he’s actually on the small side for his species, one of the largest millipedes in the eastern US!
a large brown millipede with pale yellow feet and paranota (side projections) on my hand
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ZooKeys @zookeys.pensoft.net · 25/06/2026
🗺️ The limestone caves of northeastern Laos have yielded a remarkable find, with the flat-backed millipede genus Sellanucheza being recorded from the country for the first time, alongside three newly described species: S. laotica, S. longispina, and S. ancorata: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1282.186746
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Virginia Tech @virginiatech.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Virginia Tech researchers have completed the first evolutionary history of Earth’s first land animals, pushing their origins tens of millions of years deeper into the past. 🔗: go.vt.edu/uqJT2
A close up shot of a millipede. Text on screen reads: 
Ancient millipedes still had secrets to tell, research finds.
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invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
chasing these led me deep into the woods and I got a little lost and so basically I think these count as fairies
a hangingfly hangs from a leaf. this is a skinny insect with six long legs, first two pairs used to cling to the leaf, and four long narrow wings with black tips
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Plazi @plazi-species.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
#NewSpecies! New pill #millipede from #thailand just tiptoed in: Zephronia tratensis Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/F24EBD4F-... Publication: doi.org/10.5852/ejt.... #EJTaxonomy #ZephroniaTratensis #FAIRdata #OA #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #conservation #animals #fauna #diplopoda
Male paratypes of live Zephronia tratensis.
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TK (Takashi DY) Kozai @bioniclab.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Your tax dollars once paid a doctor at a VA hospital in the Bronx to study the venom of a poisonous lizard. It produced Ozempic, Wegovy, and a $38.6 billion therapeutic class. 🧵
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Pooja A. Anilkumar @poojaavinipully.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Velvet worm under SEM! #onychophora #peripatidae #peripatus
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invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Many myriapods spend a good deal of effort giving their offspring the best possible start in life, even if they don’t provide direct care. This female Narceus seals each egg in wood pulp and feces, carefully molding these protective capsules (and first meals) with her legs and mouthparts.
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Schmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
This is a deep-sea isopod. Dr. Johanna Weston, a deep-ocean biologist and guest investigator at @whoi.edu, is confident this is Bathyopsurus nybelini, one of her favorite animals. Learn why via the YouTube caption: youtube.com/shorts/DenUj...
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Millipede Lab @apheloria.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
From fossil evidence, millipedes were the first animals adapted to life on land about 425 million years ago. In this new paper, we reconstructed their ancient evolutionary history across nearly half a billion years. 🌎 www.cell.com/current-biol...
cell.com
Reshaping the millipede tree of life by inclusion of the last two unsampled orders
Vasquez-Valverde et al. estimate the ancient evolutionary history of millipedes and analyze the last two remaining unsampled orders, Siphonocryptida and Siphoniulida, two rare paleoendemics whose plac...
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Lisa @tuexplorer1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Score, new Magnapinna footage!! @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 931 part 2 #Doldrums #MarineLife
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Nigel Monaghan @nigelmonaghan-nh.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Happy ’Old Croone Day’ - scientists celebrate 4 June 1662 when Dr William Croone presented the Royal Society (London) with “…two embryos of puppy-dogs, which … were put in spirit in a glass-vial sealed hermetically...” marking the beginning of fluid preservation of animals still in museums today
Three glass jars containing snakes in alcohol
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TitaniumMan @titaniumman.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
This millipede is hauling ass
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TK (Takashi DY) Kozai @bioniclab.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
🪼 Your tax dollars paid a scientist to squeeze jellyfish through cheesecloth. Osamu Shimomura processed tens of thousands on an NSF grant to understand why they glow. He found a protein that glowed green under UV light. Called it "green protein." Nobody cared. For decades.
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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
This is why we fund basic science. You never know from what little curiosity will derive the tools that enable greatness.
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LIB @leibnizlib.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Some species may disappear before we even know they exist. Researchers described a new genus and species of millipede from a tiny rainforest fragment in Madagascar, an ecosystem smaller than many city parks, yet home to unique endemic life. #LIBresearch © Golles et al., CC BY 4.0 1/3
Four images of a living Alafanahydesmus lavasoa millipede at the Lavasoa type locality: A shows an adult female walking in dorsolateral view, B the anterior body half and head in lateral view, C a close anterodorsal view of midbody segments and legs, D the millipede rolled up with visible eggs inside.
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ZooKeys @zookeys.pensoft.net · 21/05/2026
🐛 The first record of a Rhopalomeris pill millipede in China has been established after a new species was discovered in the Dinghushan National Nature Reserve. 📖 Access the full study to find out more: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1280.190182 #millipede #newspecies
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Zoosystematics and Evolution @zse.pensoft.net · 28/05/2026
🐛 A total of eight millipede species, including four recorded in Guizhou Province for the first time, were identified within the Chishui Alsophila National Nature Reserve. 🔬 Two species entirely new to science were also discovered and described in the following study: doi.org/10.3897/zse.102.185791
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Marshal Hedin @mhedin.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
never pass on the symphylan
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Pensoft @pensoft.net · 18/05/2026
🏛️Happy International Museum Day and a very special 80th anniversary to the International Council of #Museums! ✨Visit our latest blog to explore our "Best of the Archive" collection and find out more about the articles we have selected for this year's celebration: #InternationalMuseumDay #IMD2026
blog.pensoft.net
Bridging Worlds Through Knowledge: Celebrating International Museum Day 2026 | Blog
Pensoft Publishers is proud to celebrate International Museum Day and its 2026 theme: Museums Uniting a Divided World.
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Marshal Hedin @mhedin.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
beauty in the minute details! what i believe are droplets of defensive chemicals, arising from the base of bundled hairs on a millipede, deep in a decaying log perhaps in the genus Apterourus, and based on where I was located, likely an undescribed species. which is also cool ...
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Jack Tamisiea @jack-tamisiea.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
New Ancient Centipede Ancestor for #FossilFriday! The latest creature from the Waukesha Biota, Wisconsin's cradle of Silurian critters, is Waukartus muscularis, a marine myriapod whose legs were primed to crawl onto land. Latest for @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/s...
nytimes.com
How Ancient Centipede Ancestors Conquered the Earth
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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 13/05/2026
#ProcB in @nytimes.com | A marine stem-myriapod from the Silurian Waukesha Lagerstätte, Wisconsin, USA: terrestrial traits pre-date the transition to land: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
nytimes.com
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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
🚨weird pauropod alert🚨
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Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
“We are at a unique stage in our history. Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet, and never before have we had the power to do something about that... The future of humanity and indeed all life on earth, now depends on us.” — Sir David Attenborough
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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
I am hiring a PhD student to join our group in Lund, Sweden working on an ERC-funded project to untangle color and polarization vision in some amazing crustaceans – minute water fleas and pugnacious mantis shrimp! Please forward this to promising students. Apply here: lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
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James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Our latest paper out today in @royalsocietypublishing.org Proceedings B, a new total group myriapod from the Silurian of Waukesha. 🧪⚒️ doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
doi.org
A marine stem-myriapod from the Silurian Waukesha Lagerstätte, Wisconsin, USA: terrestrial traits pre-date the transition to land
Abstract. A new aquatic myriapod-like arthropod, Waukartus muscularis, from the Silurian (Llandoverian) Waukesha marine Lagerstätte of Wisconsin with unira
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