Rank Species | Class Diplopoda | |
Similar Desmoxytes, Paradoxosomatidae, Ornate sleeper‑ray, Mindoro stripe‑faced fruit bat, Oxyuranus temporalis | ||
The shocking pink dragon millipede (Desmoxytes purpurosea) is a spiny and toxic millipede named for its vivid pink color. It was formally described in 2007 from a specimen collected at the Hup Pa Tard limestone cavern in the Uthai Thani Province of Thailand, within the Greater Mekong. Among the largest species of its genus, the adult millipede is approximately 3 cm (1.2 in) long. It lives in the open on leaf litter. It becomes gregarious after rain showers. The millipede has glands that produce hydrogen cyanide to protect it from predators, a fact advertised by its aposematic color. Because it produces cyanide, it smells like almonds.
The shocking pink dragon millipede was named third in the top ten new species list of 2008 by the International Institute for Species Exploration.
Other species of genus Desmoxytes can be brightly colored, sometimes in shades of red, as in Desmoxytes rubra.