Meet The 'King': New Centipede Species Thriving In 'Hellish' Cave

The king of Movile Cave has been crowned as a team of researchers discovered the centipede species that's at the top of the food chain in the "hellish" Romanian cave.

Movile Cave in Dobrogea, Romania is no ordinary cave. Isolated from the outside world for 5.5 million years and only discovered in 1986 by Romanian workers looking for locations for a power plant, Movile has developed its very own unique ecosystem that's reliant on methane and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria instead of sunlight. In fact, researchers noted in their new study, published in ZooKeys, that it was the first known subterranean chemosynthesis-based ecosystem.

But despite having what the Pensoft Blog described as a "hellish" ecosystem, the cave is rather abundant with life. In their study, researchers described their discovery of the Cryptops speleorex, the largest known inhabitant of Movile Cave to date at 46 to 52 millimeters in length.

Its name translates to "king of the cave," the researchers explained, referring to the venomous new species' position at the top of the harsh ecosystem's food chain.

As Pensoft Blog explained, it has been believed that Movile cave also harbors species from the surface. But molecular and morphological analyses of the specimen they found in the cave compared to a related species known to live on the surface revealed that the centipede from the cave is, indeed, a different species.

"Our results confirmed our doubts and revealed that the Movile centipede is morphologically and genetically different, suggesting that it has been evolving from its closest surface-dwelling relative over the course of millions of years into an entirely new taxon that is better adapted to life in the never-ending darkness," Pensoft Blog quotes the researchers as saying.

The C. speleorex now adds to the number of species that can only be found in Movile Cave. As the researchers explained in their study, C. speleorex is now the 35th among the species known to be endemic to Movile Cave. According to the researchers, this makes Movile Cave one of the most "species-rich caves in the world."

Other animals co-existing with the "king of the cave" include cave leeches and the troglobiont water scorpion. And it's quite likely that more will still be discovered in the future.