One giant dark brown millipedeundocumented for 126 years, was recorded in Makira Natural Park, home to the largest and most intact forest of Madagascar, country in Africa.
It is one of 21 “lost” species rediscovered by Re:wild during an expedition to the African island in September last year, the results of which were recently published. The conservation organization aims to locate species that have not been seen and recorded for at least 10 years, hoping that by removing data deficiencies it can help prevent species extinction.
Christina Biggs, Re:wild’s lost species officer, spotted the giant millipede crawling on her boot outside her tent one morning. “I filmed it for a while because I thought it was cool, having no idea it was a truly lost species,” she told CNN in an email. “We only discovered that it had not been documented since 1897 when Dmitry Telnov, a beetle expert at the Natural History Museum in London, sent material to a German colleague specializing in myriapods from Madagascar.”
The largest specimen of the species (scientific name: Spirostreptus sculptus) observed was a giant female measuring 27.5 centimeters. The team was surprised to discover that despite the lack of scientific records, the millipede was actually quite common throughout the rainforest.
“There are many reasons why a species may not have been documented for more than a decade, or be ‘lost’ by our definition. Disease, pollution, catastrophic weather, human-wildlife conflict. But sometimes it’s simply because people haven’t looked for it or are less interested because it’s not cute and pretty,” Biggs said.
Among the other 20 species rediscovered were jumping spiders, ant-like beetles and three species of fish. The team also documented new varieties that had never previously been recorded in Makira, such as the zebra spider.
Brogan Pett, director of the SpiDiverse working group at the Biodiversity Inventory for Conservation (Binco) and PhD candidate at the University of Exeter, UK, made the discovery after spotting an egg sac hanging at the entrance to a small cave.
“I immediately recognized them as something special,” he said in a press release. “Pendulous egg sacs are one of the characteristics of the zebra spider family to which this new species belongs. I crawled a little way into the cave and saw some adult spiders guarding egg sacs – they were quite large and it was remarkable that they had gone so long without being recognised.”
Searching for lost species
Biggs explains that in the search for lost species, Re:wild generally focuses on finding one or two varieties in a single expedition. However, due to the high density of biodiversity in Madagascar, they took a different approach, with a team of 30 scientists from different universities and conservation groups specializing in a variety of species.
However, some of the categories they searched for were not rediscovered, such as the Masoala fork-marking lemur, the Calumma vatososa, a large chameleon, and the dusky tetraka, a small yellow canary bird.
Biggs fears this could mean some species are extinct. The country has faced extensive deforestation, with a 2023 study estimating that Madagascar has lost 80% of its natural areas. Although Makira is relatively intact, the team observed evidence of illegal mining, squatting and rice fields in the protected area, Biggs said.
Several invasive species were also detected, such as mosquitofish, black rats and land snails, which may pose a threat to native fauna.
“We know that the larger a species is and the longer it remains undetected, the greater the likelihood of extinction. So we are concerned about the fork-marking lemur and the Fito chameleon,” she said. The two varieties were last documented in 2004 and 2006, respectively, while the powdered tetraka was spotted by Re:wild staff in 2022 and 2023 at two other locations in Madagascar. So they are confident the species exists, but have not been able to confirm Makira as a habitat.
Christina Biggs warned that the results came from “a survey in very rainy conditions” and that “much more work needs to be done to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the last individuals have died.” The organization and its partners will continue expeditions on the island to gather more data.
“Effective conservation and protection efforts begin with understanding which species are present and where they are located,” Binco researcher Merlijn Jocque said in a press release. “Often, this critical information is missing, making it difficult to prioritize and implement effective conservation actions with limited resources.”
The researcher hopes that by identifying some of the 4,300 species globally that have not been documented for a decade or more, they can help conservation efforts for vulnerable groups and prevent extinctions.
“You can’t save what you don’t know is there,” she said.
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