What are you doing here, weird creepy-crawly critter? This is Los Angeles, California—a big, busy city!

Meet the Los Angeles thread millipede. The tiny arthropod was found just underground by naturalists. Where? Near a freeway, a Starbucks, and a sunglasses store. We’ll call the new-to-us-creature Millie for short. Maybe Millie was about to grab a coffee, slap on her shades, and cruise down the road.

Or maybe not. Millie measures the length of a paperclip. She’s skinny as pencil lead. You can see through her bendy body like a jellyfish tentacle. The creature burrows four inches below ground. She’s blind. Hornlike antennas protrude from her head. They help her find her way around.

Peer at Millie under a microscope. She may remind you of something from a Hollywood monster movie. Her head looks like a helmet. Try to count her legs. One, two, skip a few . . . four-hundred-eighty-six!

Naturalists Cedric Lee and James Bailey first located Millie when they were out collecting slugs four years ago.

“It’s amazing to think these millipedes are crawling in the inner cracks and crevices between little pieces of rock below our feet in Los Angeles,” says entomologist (bug studier) Paul Marek. “It goes to show that there’s this undiscovered planet underground.”

Millipedes feed on dead organic material. Without them, people would be “up to our necks” in it, Dr. Marek says.

Scientists estimate 10 million animal species live on Earth. But only one million have been discovered. Will you be the next person to find one?

For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. — Romans 1:20

Why? God is way ahead of us. People are still discovering creatures He made long ago!