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ZAGREB, Croatia, June 30 (UPI) -- It's the centipede from hell -- or the centipede trying to dig a hole to China. It's a centipede really far below your feet. A team of researchers recently discovered the creature in three caves in Croatia. They scientists say it's the deepest-dwelling centipede species every discovered. Specimens of the species were recovered at depths of more than 3,600 feet.
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In an homage to the hot and dark depths of its preferred habitat, the centipede was named Geophilus hadesi, after Hades, the god of the underworld in Greek mythology.
The dramatic and deep vertical caves of the Croatia's Velebit mountains consistently reveal new species.
"Velebit stretches over 145 km and is situated in the Croatian Dinaric Karst area ... which is considered a remarkable hot spot of subterranean diversity," researcher wrote in their new paper on the species.
Like other cave-dwellers, the hellish centipede boasts unusual traits -- including poison glands, a super-strong jaw, an extra-long antenna and long, curved claws in the front and back. The centipede, which hunts and eats invertebrates, is one of the top predators down below.
"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," explained lead researcher Pavel Stoev, head of Bulgaria's National Museum of Natural History, in Sofia. "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."
The new species is described in the journal ZooKeys.
