When George Beccaloni was on his honeymoon in Thailand in 2001, he did more than relax on the beach: he discovered the world’s first amphibious centipede.

“Wherever I go in the world, I always turn over rocks beside streams, and that’s where I found this centipede, which was quite a surprise,” Beccaloni, an entomologist, told National Geographic of his discovery. “It was pretty horrific-looking: very big with long legs and a horrible dark, greenish-black color.”

The centipede’s description was first published in ZooKeys in May. It appears to be the first known amphibious centipede.

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Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.berenson@time.com.