We’ve known about these amazing fossils from the lower Carboniferous for a while — it’s Arthropleura, a gigantic 2.5 meter long millipede. Imagine cleaning up your kitchen when a beast 2 or 3 times your length fluidly, sinuously crawls out from your baseboards. Wouldn’t that be neat?
One of the only problems with imagining that is that none of the fossils to date have had a head. Sure, it’s imposingly large, but what kind of face does it have? It’s a millipede, and millipedes are harmless detritivores who aren’t going to be a threat at all, unless you’re a pile of moldering leaves or a fungus. It’s centipedes that are primarily carnivores, with pointy sharp venomous forcipules that can deliver a nasty bite. That Arthropleura is in the millipede clade tends to blunt their potential menace.
Good news, time-traveling super-villains looking for a pet! The head of Arthropleura has at last been discovered, and it’s centipede-like, with strong bitey jaws, and also has stalked eyes. It’s a bit squished.
(A and B) Three-dimensional reconstruction. (A) Dorsal view. (B) Ventral view. (C and D) specimen inside the nodule. (C) Part. (D) Counterpart. Co, collum; DT, digestive tube; H, head; Pt, paratergite; S#, sternite number; St, syntergite; T#, tergite number; Te, telson. Reconstructions are made from Phoenix X-ray Phoenix V|tome|x CT scan. Scale bars, 1 cm (C and D) and 5 mm (A and B).
(A) Dorsal view. (B) Ventral view. (C) Back view. (D) Frontal view. Left maxillae were removed on (B) to better illustrate the mandible below. The red circle on (C) indicates the position of the digestive tract.
However, it’s still thought likely that it was a detritivorous. This has advantages for those of us who really want one as a pet: it’s still an intimidating creature, but in its free time it can roam the lair, cleaning up any untidiness.
Yes, I might fantasize a bit about keeping a few Arthropleura about the house. Better than a dog, anyhow.
Like having a six-foot goat running around?
I feel the evil cat may have Opinions on sharing the house with a giant arthropod and would express them…unkindly. She may never crap in the litterbox again.
Wonder how a pet Arthropleura would get along with a pet dog or cat?
Also now wondering if this new find changes how accurate this depiction of this carboniferosu critter is? Walking with Monsters – Arthropleura vs. Proterogyrinus (one minute & nine seconds length.)
Um, BTW, PZ, the link in first sentence isn’t working at least not for me FYI.
I would imagine there are thoughts on why giants like this eventually died out, while their much smaller relatives survived.
I’ll ask if you can borrow RFK Jr’s chainsaw.
timgueguen @ 4. Weren’t oxygen levels much higher then?
Northumberland had a number of monstrous ‘worms’ as per Spindleston Heugh, Sockburn and Lambton. Is it possible that they were inspired by earlier fossil finds. Worm was used as term for dragon i.e. long, thin and legged.
@ timgueguen : My understanding – possibly mistaken – is that the giant arthropods of the Carboniferous could only exist and survive then because of the considerably higher atmospheric oxygen levels they had back then.
Hmm.. OTOH.. Maybe not?
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous#Atmospheric_oxygen_levels
The cat is not gonna like this.
If you were fantasizing keeping a few Arthropleura about the house, you might want to imagine what kind of spoor it might leave.
Could you take one for a walk (slither,) so it could relieve itself? Where would you attach the leash? Could it be trained to heel? Could you paper-train it? Feed it bales of Purina Arthropleura Chow™ (leaf detritus?)
That said, I’m sure Arthropleura would make a fun, affectionate pet. And probably wouldn’t eat the furniture or keep you awake at night with its barking.
A giant millipede robot would be great.
[confirms with Wikipedia]
“Detritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders or detritus eaters) are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces).”
Ah yes.
Not dangerous at all; they can’t eat you unless you are decomposing, but they can eat your feces.
(Basically, the perfect clean-up pet)
StevoR @ # 7: Hmm.. OTOH.. Maybe not?
The frequently asserted suggestion that the large body size of arthropods during the Carboniferous was due to higher atmospheric oxygen concentrations has also been questioned.
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous#Atmospheric_oxygen_levels
Because insect(oid)s larger than any today would suffocate at present oxygen levels – without lungs of some sort, a passive air intake can only fuel so many cells. High-altitude entomology (not to mention torturing creepy-crawlies in pressure chambers) has provided us lots of hard data which seems to match with the big-bug fossil record and geological estimates of oxygen concentrations. Or so my amateur and underschooled understanding has it…
Alas, the relevant link from your wikipffft citation goes only to dead ends.
@ ^ Pierce R. Butler : Thanks for that -that was my understanding too :
FWIW There’s a youtube doco here – The Extinction of the Giant Insects that Used to Populate the Earth | SLICE SCIENCE about 50 mins long FWIW.
Memory serving there was a big ice age at the end of the Carboniferous too..
^ .. Thatchanged the world as it was very dramatically.
If folks can see it there’s also a really great doco called Earth here on Aussie ABCX iView – Green episode :
https://iview.abc.net.au/video/ZW3937A003S00
That looks at the Carboniferous mass extinction among others.
@11. John Morales : “Not dangerous at all; they can’t eat you unless you are decomposing, but they can eat your feces.”
I’m not sure that’s a plus given most of us don’t have that much issue with using dunnies and if its gunna then lick your face afterwards like dogs do , well..
Just seen this The New Look of Arthropleura – The Giant Prehistoric Millipede | 7 Days of Science with that story starting at the 6 mins 12 second smark – whole clip being 17 mins long.