Paleontologists in Yunnan Province have announced the discovery of a nearly complete fossil of a three-meter-long aquatic centipede, a species that dominated freshwater ecosystems during the Early Jurassic. Named Arthropleura sinensis, the specimen shows remarkable preservation of soft tissues, including delicate gill structures along its many legs.
This find challenges previous theories that gigantism in arthropods was restricted to the Carboniferous period. Researchers believe the high oxygen levels in the local Jurassic lagoons allowed these massive predators to thrive, filling an ecological niche previously thought to be occupied solely by early crocodilians.