The solution to many problems can be found within the repository of the Biodiversity Reference Library. Most of these solutions are hidden through ignorance and the vastness of diversity, and many problems haven’t yet manifested, but we must protect and preserve all that we can, and explore fervently.
Millipedes are well-known for their chemical defense compounds. A 425 million year old fossil millipede from the Scottish island of Kerrera is the oldest known terrestrial animal, and early Carboniferous fossils (about 350 million years ago) preserve ozopores, the laterally paired openings from which exude millipede chemical secretions. Thus, some of the earliest terrestrial interactions were of millipede predation and defense. Over the intervening hundreds of millions of years, millipedes have diversified to endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful — so too have their chemical defenses evolved to a diverse array of compounds and cocktails that we have only begun to explore. A recent paper in the Journal of Natural Products furthers our understanding of millipede defenses with the description of Gosodesmine, an alkaloid with terpene characters that is structurally similar to pumiliotoxins (think poison dart frogs) and is likely quite toxic.
Gosodesmine was described and named from the millipede (Gosodesmus claremontus), which is widespread within, yet apparently endemic to California. They are blind, long slender pinkish millipedes, that consume fungus and are typically found on large woody oak debris. These aggregations may benefit individuals with the low cost of producing small amounts of defensive secretions by each group member. Also, the youngest juveniles are not know to produce chemical defenses, thus being in a multi-generational cluster confers obvious advantages to the youngest broods.
Humans are good inventors, but we should be humbled by the adaptations produced by Mother Nature and natural selection. The Value of Biodiversity is endless: medicine, food and crop varieties, materials such as wood and cotton, ecosystem services such as crop pollination and water purification, recreation such as bird watching and hunting and from these grow an economy, resources for biotechnology, robotics, and engineering, etc. Biodiversity helps us understand the history of our planet and put our present in context. Biodiversity is beautiful. Some millipede defensive secretions have shown promise as an insect and arachnid repellent, some have shown to be effective antimicrobial agents. Maybe these chemicals will find uses in pharmacology or biotechnology. In the words of E.O. Wilson, “We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity.”
Casey H Richart 