| Desmoxytes purpurosea | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Myriapoda |
| Class: | Diplopoda |
| Order: | Polydesmida |
| Family: | Paradoxosomatidae |
| Subfamily: | Paradoxosomatinae |
| Tribe: | Orthomorphini |
| Genus: | Desmoxytes |
| Species: | D. purpurosea |
| Binomial name | |
| Desmoxytes purpurosea Enghoff, Sutcharit, & Panha, 2007 | |
Desmoxytes purpurosea, commonly known as the shocking pink dragon millipede or dragon millipede, is a spiny and toxic millipede named for its vivid pink color. It was formally described in 2007 from a specimen collected at the Hup Pa Tard limestone cavern in the Uthai Thani Province of Thailand. Among the largest species of its genus, the adult millipede is approximately 3 cm (1.2 in) long. It lives in the open on leaf litter. Large numbers of them occur after rain showers. The millipede has glands that produce hydrogen cyanide to protect it from predators, which causes it to smell like almonds. Its toxicity is advertised by its aposematic color.
The shocking pink dragon millipede was named third in the top ten new species list of 2008 by the International Institute for Species Exploration.
Other species of genus Desmoxytes can be brightly colored, sometimes in shades of red, as in Desmoxytes rubra.
References
- ^ Enghoff, Henrik; Sutcharit, Chirasak; Panha, Somsak (2007). "The shocking pink dragon millipede, Desmoxytes purpurosea, a colourful new species from Thailand" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1563: 31–36. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1563.1.3. ISSN 1175-5326.
- "Cyanide Millipede, Huge Spider Among New Species". National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 12 Dec 2009.
- "Top 10 New Species - 2008". International Institute for Species Exploration. Archived from the original on 2015-06-23. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
External links
| Taxon identifiers | |
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| Desmoxytes purpurosea | |
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