If you dislike insects, reading this might be difficult. A fossil found in England shows that a giant millipede was the biggest bug that ever lived. It was the size of a car. The name "millipede" means "one thousand legs" in Latin, but not many millipedes have 1,000 feet. One species has 1,300 legs. Researchers said the millipede was 2.7 metres long and weighed over 50kg. Seeing it would have been scary. We would need a lot of insect spray to keep it away.
The scientists are from Cambridge University's department of earth sciences. They found the fossil on a beach by chance. It had fallen from a cliff. They said it was "an incredibly exciting find". The fossil is 326 million years old. It is 100 million years older than the dinosaurs. The millipede ate a lot. Scientists are not sure what it ate, but there were plenty of nuts and seeds available at that time. They may have eaten frogs and lizards, but not humans.
Try the same news story at these levels:
Giant Millipedes - Level 0, Giant Millipedes - Level 2 or Giant Millipedes - Level 3
Sources- https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/20/europe/giant-millipede-biggest-bug-uk-northumbria-scn/index.html
- https://phys.org/news/2021-12-millipedes-big-cars-roamed-northern.html
- https://news.sky.com/story/scientists-uncover-fossil-of-car-sized-giant-millipede-it-was-a-complete-fluke-of-a-discovery-12500721
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