A toxic Centipede Peach-black poison is the top predator in the cave that has not seen daylight in more than 5.5 million years.
Located in Romania, Movil Cave is 65 feet (20 m) below the surface, and has low warm, humid air. Oxygen And thick with toxic gases, which feed on chemosynthetic bacteria. Yet, despite this apparently hellish situation, the cave hosts snails, earthworms, and cave animals, along with various communities of snails, scorpions, and other arthropods.
Now, scientists have added a new species to the list: a centipede that they named Cryptops Spilerex, “Which can be translated as ‘King of the Cave’ Said in a statement.
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The “king” does not take steps longer than 2 inches (52 millimeters), but it is the largest of the cave’s predatory arthropods “so far,” ruling its domain with deadly bites, researchers said in a new study published online in December. In 16 journals Zookies.
Since the movie’s discovery in 1986, few people have discovered its dangerous depth. The air contains hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia and more Carbon The supply of dioxide and oxygen is short, with levels as low as 7% in some parts of the cavern (average oxygen levels are usually as high as 21%). Although the air temperature is relatively comfortable at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius), the relative humidity is 100% and the air circulation is close to zero, the scientists wrote.
Entering the cave is fraught with danger, the researchers lead down a long, narrow shaft and through a winding of limestone, which eventually opens into the main cave along the lake, The BBC reported in 2015. Exploring the rest of the cave system requires diving into the lake and going through a tight underwater passage, according to the BBC.
In this dark, isolated and poisonous kingdom live 51 species of herbivores, 34 of which are found only in the Movil cave, the study authors said. The newly described cave king, C. Speliorex, It has a brownish-yellow body with a pale yellow antennae, and its yellow legs are studded with 13 to 17 “toothed teeth”. As the largest insectivorous predator of the cave ecosystem, this centipede is at the top of the food chain; Other researchers had previously observed C. spelliorex Snack on primitive insects, spiders, beetles and isopods (shrimp-like crustaceans).
Centipedes are closely related to centipedes C. Anomalans, Which is found worldwide, and it was similar to this C. anomalans Population in Romania and Serbia. However, some characteristics in the new foot species, such as the long antennae on its legs and more toothed teeth, suggest that it has unique sensory characteristics for surviving in a lightless cave.
The researchers’ findings “revealed that the movie Centipede is morphologically and genetically different from its terrestrial centipede cousins,” over a period of millions of years from its closest surface-dwelling relative to a whole new taxon that is better suited to life. “There is no end to the darkness,” the scientists said in a statement.
Published on Original Living Science.
