Rare Florida Millipedes Breed in Captivity for First Time

Anne Sawl thought she was just moving dirt when she spotted a tiny white speck that would change everything for a species on the brink.

The graduate student at the University of South Florida had been studying the rare Florida scrub millipede for months, trying to understand a creature scientists knew almost nothing about. These giant millipedes, which can grow up to four inches long, live only along Florida's Lake Wales Ridge and hadn't been comprehensively surveyed in nearly two decades.

Sawl spent nights carefully excavating millipedes from the sandy terrain and bringing them back to her St. Petersburg lab. She tried different housing arrangements, hoping they might reproduce, but nothing worked.

Then she tried something different. She moved the millipedes into a kiddie pool filled with native plants collected from the ridge, recreating their natural habitat as closely as possible.

One day while tending to the setup, that white speck caught her eye. She picked it up and realized what she was holding: a baby millipede, the first ever born in captivity.

"After so much trial and error in the lab, I was completely flabbergasted that they had reproduced," Sawl said.

The timing couldn't be better. The Florida scrub millipede faces serious threats from habitat loss, with an estimated 85% of the Lake Wales Ridge's natural habitat destroyed by agriculture, housing, and roads since pre-settlement times.

These millipedes aren't just cute creatures to protect. They serve as ecological champions in Florida's scrub ecosystem, breaking down dead leaves and plant material to fertilize nutrient-poor sandy soils.

The Ripple Effect

Sawl's work is filling critical knowledge gaps about where these millipedes still exist and how many remain. Her research compares the rare Florida scrub millipede with a more widespread cousin, revealing surprising findings about their diets and the mites they carry.

Her advisor, Deby Cassill, is already applying for grants to help Sawl continue her work at the doctoral level after she receives her master's degree this spring. The baby millipedes have opened exciting possibilities for future conservation efforts.

Sometimes the smallest discoveries lead to the biggest breakthroughs for species fighting to survive.