{"id":652498,"date":"2025-12-24T13:30:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T13:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/652498\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T13:30:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T13:30:51","slug":"scientists-unearthed-a-326-million-year-old-car-sized-millipede-fossil-that-once-crawled-across-earth-before-the-dinosaurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/652498\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Unearthed a 326-Million-Year-Old Car-Sized Millipede Fossil That Once Crawled Across Earth Before the Dinosaurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fossil uncovered by chance on a remote beach in northern England has revealed one of the most extraordinary creatures to ever roam the planet\u2014a giant millipede<\/strong> stretching nearly nine feet in length. Preserved in a sandstone boulder, the fossil belongs to Arthropleura, an extinct genus now confirmed as the largest land invertebrate<\/strong> in Earth\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

This colossal invertebrate lived more than 326 million years ago<\/strong>, during the Carboniferous period<\/strong>, long before dinosaurs appeared. The discovery is significant not just for its size but for the questions it raises about prehistoric arthropods<\/strong>, their environment, and how such massive creatures evolved on land.<\/p>\n

The specimen was spotted in Howick Bay, Northumberland<\/strong>, after a section of cliff collapsed, exposing a perfectly split boulder containing a rare and remarkably intact exoskeletal segment. Researchers from the University of Cambridge<\/a> quickly identified it as part of a creature that could grow up to 2.7 meters in length and weigh around 50 kilograms.<\/p>\n

The Largest Land Invertebrate Ever Discovered<\/p>\n

The Arthropleura fossil measures 75 centimeters, but represents only a portion of the animal\u2014likely part of a shed exoskeleton<\/strong>. Based on scale comparisons, the full animal <\/a>is estimated to have reached the length of a compact car. These prehistoric giants<\/a> crawled across the tropical landscapes of what is now Great Britain<\/strong>, which sat near the equator during the late Carboniferous.<\/p>\n

Unlike earlier finds in Germany, which revealed smaller fragments, this fossil is the most complete and largest<\/strong> of its kind to date. It was preserved in a fossilized river channel<\/a>, not the coal swamps long thought to be Arthropleura\u2019s typical habitat. This detail suggests the species thrived in open woodlands<\/strong> near ancient waterways, feeding on decaying vegetation and perhaps even small invertebrates.<\/p>\n

\"GiantThe uncovered Arthropleura fossil \u2013 \u00a9 Neil Davies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Neil Davies of the University of Cambridge described the discovery as a \u201ccomplete fluke\u201d in multiple reports, after a former student noticed the fossil while walking along the coast. The team excavated the specimen with support from Natural England and local landowners in mid-2018.<\/p>\n

The fossil\u2019s dimensions and location are documented in the study published in the Journal of the Geological Society<\/a>, which confirms the specimen as the largest-known arthropod to have walked on land.<\/p>\n

Oxygen Alone Didn\u2019t Drive Prehistoric Gigantism<\/p>\n

For decades, scientists linked the gigantic size of Paleozoic arthropods<\/strong> to high atmospheric oxygen concentrations. But this fossil dates from a time before<\/strong> the known late Carboniferous oxygen peak\u2014when levels were around 23%, only slightly higher than today\u2019s 21%. This undercuts the prevailing assumption that oxygen was the primary driver behind their massive growth.<\/p>\n

That contradiction has led researchers to explore alternative explanations. The likely factors now include abundant plant-based nutrition<\/strong>, a lack of terrestrial predators, and stable equatorial climates<\/strong> that supported large-bodied invertebrates.<\/p>\n

Additional evidence comes from a 2024 study published in Science Advances<\/a>, which used CT scans<\/strong> to analyze juvenile Arthropleura fossils from Montceau-les-Mines in France. These rare specimens revealed the head structure for the first time\u2014featuring short antennae, protruding stalked eyes<\/strong>, and internal mandibles<\/strong>. The anatomy places the species in a now-extinct group that shares features with both millipedes and centipedes.<\/p>\n

\"TheAnother image of the giant millipede fossil \u2013 \u00a9 Neil Davies<\/strong><\/p>\n

The scans confirmed that Arthropleura likely belonged to a stem group of millipedes<\/strong>, rather than modern descendants, further challenging assumptions about its behavior and biology.<\/p>\n

Extinction of a Prehistoric Crawler<\/p>\n

Despite dominating equatorial landscapes for nearly 45 million years<\/strong>, Arthropleura vanished during the early Permian period<\/strong>, around 290 million years ago. Climate shifts that led to drier, more seasonal conditions<\/strong> may have reduced their available habitat and moisture-dependent breeding cycles.<\/p>\n

Researchers also suggest that the molting process<\/strong>, essential for arthropods to grow, became riskier as environmental humidity declined. For an animal of this size, molting required highly stable, moist environments\u2014conditions that disappeared during widespread Permian desertification.<\/p>\n

Some theories also point to the rise of early reptiles<\/strong>, which may have competed with Arthropleura for food or territory in the same shrinking ecosystems. However, no direct fossil evidence of such interactions has yet been uncovered.<\/p>\n

Full adult skeletons remain elusive. Most known Arthropleura fossils\u2014like the one discovered in Northumberland\u2014are molted carapaces<\/strong>, not actual remains. The absence of fossilized heads has limited researchers\u2019 ability to fully reconstruct their behavior and feeding strategies.<\/p>\n

Ancient Ecosystems, Newly Reimagined<\/p>\n

This discovery is more than a milestone in paleontology<\/strong>\u2014it\u2019s a sharp reminder that the ancient biosphere<\/strong> was full of evolutionary surprises. The size and survival of Arthropleura signal a dynamic ecosystem that supported giant invertebrates, not in isolated swamps but across vast open woodlands in what was once equatorial Europe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Trackways, found in places like Nova Scotia<\/strong>, suggest that these creatures moved slowly across forest floors, leaving meter-wide imprints behind. These impressions have helped confirm their estimated size, even in the absence of full body fossils.<\/p>\n

Now on display at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences<\/a>, the Northumberland fossil offers the public a rare window into a world long gone. It tells the story of a planet that once teemed with megafauna not just of bone and tooth\u2014but of armor and segment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fossil uncovered by chance on a remote beach in northern England has revealed one of the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-652498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115774797149366792","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}