The Leggiest Female On Earth Lives Near Silicon Valley

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http://www.businessinsider.com/the-leggiest-creature-on-earth-lives-near-silicon-valley-2012-11


A female Illacme plenipes with 618 legs.


The leggiest animal in the world lives in northern California, on the outskirts of Silicon Valley.

The bizarre creature is the millipede Illacme plenipes. Males have around 550 legs, but females can have up to 750 legs! Most millipedes, by the way, have between 80 and 100 legs.

First spotted in 1928, the Illacme plenipes was thought to be extinct until entomologist Paul Marek from the University of Arizona dug up one of the wiggly critters at the end of 2005. He reported his findings in the June 2006 issue of Nature.

The re-discovery was amazing because the millipede only lives in a very small area in San Benito County, California. Its limited habitat covers just 4.5 square kilometers of mossy oak forest, or 823 football fields, writes LiveScience.