University of the Sunshine Coast professor Andy Marshall said they found the millipedes - whose heads resemble Star Wars characters - among forest litter and soft soil while studying tree and vine growth in Tanzania's remote Uzungwa Mountains.
Researchers have discovered a new genus and five new species of millipedes in remote African jungles - researchers say the many-legged creatures may hold important clues about whether woody vines are strangling or protecting the world's forests.
Recently, the European Journal of Taxonomy formally described this new genus and species in a paper titled "Amountainofmillipedes". The main author of the paper is six international collaborators including Professor Henrik Enghoff of the University of Copenhagen.
Professor Marshall said: "The millipedes will help us identify two contrasting theories about the role of vines in forest recovery - whether the vines act like a bandage, protecting wounds, or act like a 'parasite' and strangle the forest. We record millipedes of various sizes during field trips to measure forest recovery, "They are an important indicator of forest health, but we didn't realize the importance of these species until our specimens were evaluated by woollypod experts. It's noteworthy that so many new species were not present in earlier millipedes collected from the same area, but we still hope to find new species."
The project, funded by the Australian Research Council, aims to understand how forests around the world are recovering from severe disturbances.
Recent findings, part of a global collaborative of research, suggest that rising temperatures are the main reason woody vines take over forests already disturbed by logging and other impacts.
African millipedes are famous for their many legs, and the largest African millipedes can grow up to 35 centimeters. Professor Marshall from the University's Forestry Research Institute said that although the millipedes they found were only a few centimeters long, each still had about 200 legs. This is not the first time Professor Marshall has made thrilling discoveries of new species during his research, including a new chameleon and a new tree species that may have gone extinct. The discovery of new genera and species of millipedes highlights how much is still being discovered in tropical forests, he said.
Professor Engelhof and the research team named one of the new species Lophostreptus magombera after the Magombera Nature Reserve, a biologically unique forest that Professor Marshall has been working to protect since the turn of the millennium.
These millipede specimens are now in the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen.
The new genus is Udzungwastreptus. The five new species are Lophostreptusmagombera, Attemsostreptuscataractae, Attemsostreptusleptoptilos, Attemsostreptusjulostriatus and Udzungwastreptusmarianae.
Compiled source: ScitechDaily