Taylor Swift: why scientists called a new species of millipedes as the singer

Scientists from the Polytechnic Institute and State University of Virginia, better known as Virginia Tech, in the United States, discovered a group of new species of millipedes and surprised by calling one of them as singer, songwriter and actress Taylor Swift.

Now, the famous performer celebrated for blockbuster songs such as Shake It Off and You Belong With Me, and who has numerous awards for her music, was honored by science by the name of a new species of millipedes.

This is the millipede claw named after the scientific name Nannaria swiftae, which was added, along with 16 other new species, to those found in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States.

Millipedes should not be confused with centipedes, since the former have two pairs of legs per body segment, while the latter have only one pair per segment. While millipedes protect their eggs from predators in a hard ground nest and are not poisonous, centipedes possess a pair of fangs that contain the venomous glands.

Most myriapods are found in humid forests, where they help to consume decaying plant material. Some live in grasslands, semi-arid habitats, or even deserts. Most are herbivores, but centipedes are nocturnal predators. They wander around looking for small animals to eat; their prey includes insects, spiders, and other small invertebrates. If the centipede is large enough, it will attack even small vertebrates, such as lizards. Although not generally considered dangerous to humans, many of this group can cause temporary burning and discoloration of the skin.

Millipedes, on the other hand, are little-known invertebrates and play a valuable role because they break down forest litter, allowing their nutrients to be released into the ecosystem. Appalachian millipedes live on the forest floor, feeding on decaying leaves and other plant matter. Scientists point out that they are difficult to catch, because they usually remain buried in the ground.

The discoverers of the new millipede Taylor Swift were scientists Derek Hennen, Jackson Means and Paul Marek of Virginia Tech, who reported and described 17 new species of myriapods in an article published in the open access magazine Zookeys .

While millipedes of crooked claws are found in the collections of many natural science museums, scientists long believed that it included many more species than known ones, but decades passed before they were described.

Virginia Tech specialists, with funding from Systematics and Revised Taxonomy from the United States National Science Foundation, began research several years ago during which they collected new specimens in the eastern region of that country. As they described, the group traveled through 17 states rummaging under the litter of forests, rocks and trunks to find specimens that would allow them to sequence DNA and scientifically demonstrate the presence of unknown species.

In this way, they compared more than 1,800 individuals collected in the field survey or from university and museum collections, which allowed them to describe 17 new species, including Nannaria marianae, named after the wife of Hennenm and Nannaria swiftae, in honor of Taylor Swift.

Specialists found that millipedes live in wooded habitats near streams and are usually buried under the ground, exhibiting more cryptic behavior than their relatives.

The ones described are between 18 and 38 mm long, have shiny caramel brown to black bodies with white, red or orange spots and white legs. Males have small, twisted, flattened claws on the forelegs, which is the basis of their common name.

So why did scientists honor Taylor Swift with her discovery? Because the lead author of the studio, Derek Hennen, is a fan of the singer. “His music helped me overcome the ups and downs of graduate school, so naming a new species of millipedes in his honor is my way of thanking,” he explained.

In describing their research, scientists also noted that “seventeen new species were described, bringing the composition of the wilsoni group of species to 24 species, more than tripling their known diversity, and increasing the total number of described Nannaria species to 78. The genus now has the largest number of species in the family Xystodesmidae”.

KEEP READING

A genetic modification of mosquitoes that kills young females could be key to preventing the transmission of diseases