A New Millipede Found in Toowoomba -- Glenda Walter

Last summer three of us spent several hot, humid evenings snooping about in Hartmann Reserve (Toowoomba) with torches, and eventually captured several mature male millipedes which were sent to Dr Mesibov in Tasmania for study. It proved to be a species new to science, and has now been named Cladethosoma toowoomba. The scientific paper by Dr Mesibov was published a day or so ago.

Dr Mesibov says:

“Glenda Walter imaged a large and strikingly patterned millipede in Hartmann Reserve last year and posted the image on the BowerBird website. Millipede specialist Bob Mesibov (Tasmania) has now described this species as Cladethosoma toowoomba in a paper published in Memoirs of the Queensland Museum - Nature, based on specimens collected by Glenda, Michael Rooke and Craig Reid. There are several other Cladethosoma species in SE Queensland, but C. Toowoomba is distinctive."

The photos below of Cladethosoma toowooomba are by Glenda Walter.