A team of scientists led by Prof Pavel Stoev of the National Museum of Natural History and Pensoft Publishers in Bulgaria has described a new species of the centipede order Geophilomorpha from caves in the Velebit Mountain, central Croatia.

Centipedes are carnivores that feed on other invertebrates. They are common cave inhabitants but members of this particular order usually find shelter there only occasionally. Species with an entire life cycle confined to cave environments are exceptionally rare in the group.

Recorded as deep as -3,600 feet (-1,100 meters), the newly-discovered geophilomorph centipede was named Geophilus hadesi, after Hades – the god of the underworld in the Greek mythology.

The species has also had its name picked to pair another cave-dwelling species, Geophilus persephones, discovered in 1999 and named after Persephone, the queen of the underworld.

“The species is described upon specimens found in two caves at a depth below -820 feet (-250 meters),” Prof Stoev and colleagues wrote in a paper in the journal ZooKeys.

“Another two specimens apparently belonging to the same species have been recorded in another deep vertical cave at -3,215 feet (-980 meters) and -3,600 feet (-1,100 meters). The latter represents the world’s deepest record of Chilopoda as a whole.”

Like most cave-dwellers, Geophilus hadesi shows unusual traits, some of which commonly found in troglobitic arthropods, including exceptionally elongated antennae, trunk segments and leg claws.

“When I first saw the animal and its striking appearance, I immediately realized that this is a new, hitherto unnamed and highly adapted to cave environment species,” Prof Stoev said.

“This finding comes to prove once again how little we know about the life in caves, where even in the best prospected areas, one can still find incredible animals.”

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Stoev P et al. 2015. At the end of the rope: Geophilus hadesi sp. n. – the world’s deepest cave-dwelling centipede (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae). ZooKeys 510: 95-114; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.510.9614