''Eupolybothrus cavernicolus'' is a species of

centipede Centipedes (from Neo-Latin , "hundred", and Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', "lip", and Neo-Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, ...

so far only found in two caves near the village of

Kistanje Kistanje (, sr-Cyrl, Кистање) is a village and municipality in Šibenik-Knin County, Croatia. It is located in Bukovica, a region of the Dalmatian Hinterland. Geography Kistanje is located in the microregion of Bukovica, in the Dal ...

, in

Šibenik-Knin County Šibenik-Knin County (; ) is a county in southern Croatia, located in the north-central part of Dalmatia. The biggest city in the county is Šibenik, which also serves as county seat. Other notable towns in the county are Knin, Vodice, Drniš a ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. It has been dubbed the ''cyber-centipede'' as it is the first

eukaryotic The eukaryotes ( ) constitute the Domain (biology), domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a membrane-bound cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms ...

species for which, in addition to the traditional morphological description, scientists have provided a transcriptomic profile,

DNA barcoding DNA barcoding is a method of species identification using a short section of DNA from a specific gene or genes. The premise of DNA barcoding is that by comparison with a reference library of such DNA sections (also called " sequences"), an indiv ...

data, detailed anatomical

X-ray microtomography In radiography, X-ray microtomography uses X-rays to create cross-sections of a physical object that can be used to recreate a virtual model (3D model) without destroying the original object. It is similar to tomography and X-ray computed tomog ...

(micro-CT), and a movie of the living specimen. It was discovered in by 2013 by biospeleologists Komerički and Stoev.

References

Lithobiomorpha Myriapods of Europe Animals described in 2013 Cave arthropods Endemic fauna of Croatia {{Centipede-stub