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Researchers have discovered a epenthetic fungus that sucks nutrient out of the procreative organ ofmillipedes . They named it after Twitter .
MeetTroglomyces twitteri . This near - microscopicparasitelooks like a larva and is about 100 micrometers long — comparable to the average diameter of a human hair . Each spore spends its entire lifecycle hanging around the genitals of a individual male or distaff millipede . However you may feel about Twitter , the researchers who strike the regrettably - aim parasite were n’t trying to throw shade at the social media situation when naming this newfound fungus ; rather , they were paying court to how the parasite was discovered .
Two white dots (circled in red) are actually a new species of parasitic fungus that lives on American millipedes. Researchers named it in honor of Twitter.
allot to study co - author Ana Sofia Reboleira , an bugologist at the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen , the parasite first come to her attention when she saw a colleague share a photo of a North American millipede on Twitter . Two strange , blank dots flecked the millepede ’s exoskeleton ; Reboleira instantly peg them as parasites .
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After analyze several American milliped specimen in the museum ’s ingathering , Reboleira and her colleagues find more deterrent example of the novel fungus , which nobody had ever noticed or draw before .
A closeup ofT. twitteri. I’d creep into its mentions.
" Until then , these fungi had never been line up on American millipedes , " Reboleirasaid in a statement . " As far as we know , this is the first fourth dimension that a Modern species has been discovered on Twitter . "
T. twitteribelongs to the insect - loving fungal order Laboulbeniales , and is one of about 30 species in the order that exclusively assail millipede . With its heading buried beneath its master of ceremonies ’s exoskeleton and its bum thrust into the air , T. twitteriparasites spread on nutrients from one end , while the other cook spores to taint their next victim . Millipede conjugation ( an cozy social function that can resemble human mating , only with a draw more legs ) provides the parasites with a perfect chance to spread out their spore , likely explaining why the study authors so often detected them near the boniface ' reproductive part , the team write .
While millipede - infect Laboulbeniales were never seen in North America until now , they have been tell apart widely around the public , including in Europe , Asia , Africa , the Middle East , Australia and New Zealand . Many of these metal money were only discovered in the last six days , leading Reboleira to suspect that there are many , many more of the creepy-crawly crawlies out there waiting to be discovered . It ’ll take a peck of retweets to bump them .
The study was bring out May 14 in the journalMycoKeys .
Originally print onLive skill .
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