The largest fossil of a giant millipede ever discovered — at 8.9 feet from head to tail, as long as a car — has been unearthed in the north of England.
The ‘Arthropleura’ was found on the beach at Howick Bay in Northumberland, some 40 miles north of Newcastle, and dates back 326 million years to the Carboniferous.
The new find positions Arthropleura as the largest-known invertebrate animal of all time — ousting the previous record holders, who were ancient sea scorpions.
The largest fossil of a giant millipede ever discovered — at 8.9 feet from head to tail, as long as a car — has been unearthed in the north of England. Pictured: an artist’s reconstruction of Arthropleura, which occupied open woodland habitats near the coast
Pictured: The fossil of Arthropleura was discovered on the coast at Howick Bay, Northumberland. It is located about 40 miles north from Newcastle and dates back to 326 million year ago.
The new find positions Arthropleura as the largest-known invertebrate animal of all time — ousting the previous record holders, who were ancient sea scorpions. Pictured: the giant millipede is thought to have grown to 8.9 feet from head to tail
The Arthropleura fossil was first found in the January of 2018, after the block of sandstone in which it had been petrified fell from the cliffs at Howick Bay onto the shorefront below.
Neil Davies, University of Cambridge sedimentologist and paper author said that it was “a fluke of an discovery.”
“The boulder that had fallen had broken open, exposing the fossil. One of our ex-phD students spotted it while walking past.
The fossil was extracted from the boulder in May 2018, after the team had acquired permission from both Natural England and the landowners, the Howick Estate.
‘It was an incredibly exciting find, but the fossil is so large it took four of us to carry it up the cliff face,’ Dr Davies added.
Having been brought to Cambridge for analysis, the team noted that the fossil was preserved sediments deposited by an ancient river channel.
Just like modern millipedes, it exhibits multiple articulated exoskeleton segments. The section of the fossil found was two-and-a-half-feet long.
The specimen — only the third to have even been found, with the others having all been unearthed in Germany — likely weighed in at 110 lbs.
‘Finding these giant millipede fossils is rare, because once they died, their bodies tend to disarticulate,’ Dr Davies explained.
‘It’s likely that the fossil is a moulted carapace that the animal shed as it grew.’
‘We have not yet found a fossilised head, so it’s difficult to know everything about them,’ the researcher added.
The specimen — only the third to have even been found, with the others having all been unearthed in Germany — likely weighed in at 110 lbs. Pictured: a comparison of the three bugs, with the sections found highlighted in purple
‘It was a complete fluke of a discovery,’ said paper author and sedimentologist Neil Davies of the University of Cambridge. ‘The way the boulder had fallen, it had cracked open and perfectly exposed the fossil, which one of our former PhD students happened to spot’
After the team obtained permission from Natural England, and landowners the Howick Estate to extract the fossil from the boulder in May 2018, the team was able to remove it from the stone. ‘It was an incredibly exciting find, but the fossil is so large it took four of us to carry it up the cliff,’ Dr Davies said
All known Arthropleura specimens have been found in locations that, during the Carboniferous, would have been at equatorial latitudes.
While reconstructions of the previous fossils suggested that giant millipede lived in coal swamps, the new specimen suggests that it may have occupied open woodland habitats near the coast.
Having been examined, the Arthropleura fossil is to go on public display at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences in Cambridge in the New Year.
The full findings of the study were published in the Journal of the Geological Society.
Dr Davies stated that finding these gigantic millipede fossils can be difficult because they are hard to find once the animals have died. ‘It’s likely that the fossil is a moulted carapace that the animal shed as it grew. We have not yet found a fossilised head, so it’s difficult to know everything about them,’ the researcher added
All Arthropleura specimens found have been in places that were at equatorial latitudes during Carboniferous. Photographed at Howick Bay
In January 2018, the first Arthropleura fossils were discovered. It was located after the block sandstone it had petrified dropped from Howick Bay’s cliffs onto the shorefront.