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Chinese scientists recorded the first troglodyte centipede known from southern China. To the team's amazement, the specimens collected during a survey in Gaofeng Village, Guizhou Province, represented not only one species that had managed to hide from biologists in the US. Subterranean darkness, but it also proved to be the very first among the order of the stone centipedes to be discovered underground in the country.
Found by the teams of Qing Li, Xuan Guo and Dr. Hui-ming Chen of the Guizhou Biology Institute, and Su-jian Pei and Dr. Hui-qin Ma of Hengshui University, the new cavedweller is described under the name of Australobius tracheoperspicuus in the open access journal zookeys.
The new centipede is quite small and measures less than 20 mm in total length. It is also characterized by a pale yellow-brownish color and antennas composed of 26 segments each. Similar to other cavernicolous organisms that have evolved to survive out of the sun, it does not have any eyes.
In their article, the authors point out that Chinese centipedes and centipedes remain poorly known, and that this statement is particularly true for stone centipede fauna: members of the Lithobiomorpha order. To date, there are only 80 species and subspecies of lithobiomorphs known in the country. However, none of them live underground.
In addition, the study provides an identification key for the six Australobius species listed in China.
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