Biodiversity director at the CU Centre for Excellence Somsak Panha made the announcement at a press conference yesterday.

As the first species of centipede ever found to dive beneath the surface and run along the bottom, this new centipede – whose scientific name is Scolopendra cataracta Siriwut, Edgecombe and Panha, 2016 – is unique among its multi-legged brethren and they can be found only in Southeast Asia, Somsak said.

DNA sequencing has confirmed that this amphibious centipede – black in colour with 20 pairs of legs that grows up to 20cm-long – had clearly different genetic features from the seven other centipede species and hence qualifies as a new species, he said.

The holotype of such a new species of centipede was kept on display at the CU Museum of Natural History.

The discovery was published in the ZooKeys last year in a 124-page study on the Scolopendra family which has 47 species.

Research was being done to make use of biological resources by applying them to start-up business products. For instance, the venom of various animals are being used for medical purposes such as serum or for farming purposes such as pesticide and for cosmetic purposes such as botox, Somsak said.

The centre has joined hands with the Red Cross Society’s Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute to study its chemical and biological components and the properties of all 47 centipede species in Thailand for commercial applications in keeping with the government’s policy, Somsak said.

The researchers under the CU Center of Excellence on Biodiversity, who have received continuous funding from the university, the Office of Higher Education Commission and the Thailand Research Fund, had so far found 245 new species, including the shocking pink millipede which was selected for the 2008 Top Ten New Species Award.