Back
23· Cooling
Health & Science2h 26m ago
Entomologists led by Virginia Tech reconstructed the evolutionary history of millipedes, placing two elusive groups, Siphoniulida and Siphonocryptida, and tracing millipede origins to nearly 460 million years ago.
Los Tuxtlas, Mexico, and Spain's Canary Islands
Who
Virginia Tech's Dr. Paul Marek, Luisa 'Fernanda' Vasquez-Valverde, and a team of entomologists
What
Entomologists led by Virginia Tech reconstructed the evolutionary history of millipedes, placing two elusive groups, Siphoniulida and Siphonocryptida, and tracing millipede origins to nearly 460 million years ago.
When
Sun, 14 Jun 2026 12:51:55 GMT · 2h 26m ago
Where
Los Tuxtlas, Mexico, and Spain's Canary Islands ·
Why
The research aimed to fill the last missing pieces in the evolutionary history of Earth’s oldest land animals by obtaining and sequencing DNA from previously unsequenced millipede groups.
The Frontline Impact
How this affects you
This research significantly pushes back the known timeline for millipede evolution, suggesting they appeared 35 million years earlier than the oldest fossils and pioneered terrestrial life, setting the stage for later life forms.
Story chain
3 events in this thread- Currently Reading2h 26m agoEntomologists led by Virginia Tech reconstructed the evolutionary history of millipedes, placing two elusive groups, Siphoniulida and Siphonocryptida, and tracing millipede origins to nearly 460 million years ago.
- Health & Science2h 26m agoEntomologists led by Virginia Tech reconstructed the evolutionary history of millipedes, placing their origins at nearly 460 million years ago.Open article
- Health & Science2h 26m agoEntomologists led by Virginia Tech reconstructed the evolutionary history of millipedes, placing two elusive groups, Siphoniulida and Siphonocryptida, to understand Earth’s oldest land animals.Open article
Verified Sources & Citations
Credibility ratings reflect the AI ingestion pipeline's assessment of source provenance.