Evolution of Chinese cave millipedes

Description

Southern Chinca is especially rich in caves. Caves are a different world, a world which differs in almost all aspects from the one on the Earth surface. Aside from the obvious lack of light, is the climate inside a cave relatively constant (with low temperatures); caves also lack food, but predator groups like vertebrates such as birds, rodents or shrews are totally absent. These caves are inhabited by a unique, still little-known fauna, especially diverse are different groups of millipedes.

These cave millipedes, not closely related to one another, all show similar adaptation to the life inside a cave and look vastly different from their close relatives which live in the forests on the surface.

Currently, a joint team of researchers from Russia, China and Germany studies general adaptations of millipedes to the life inside caves using comparative morphology.

Location