{"id":1320426,"date":"2020-06-09T18:36:22","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T00:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=997108"},"modified":"2020-06-09T18:36:22","modified_gmt":"2020-06-10T00:36:22","slug":"glenwood-locals-get-millipedes-named-in-their-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/glenwood-locals-get-millipedes-named-in-their-honor\/","title":{"rendered":"Glenwood locals get millipedes named in their honor"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-3-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-3-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-3-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-3.jpg 1632w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Coloradesmus warneri is one of four millipede species recently identified from Colorado caves. C. warneri is about the same size as C. beckleyi, which is to say tiny.<\/strong><br \/><em>David Steinmann<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s the little things that count.<\/p>\n<p>And these little things have 17 pairs of legs to count with.<\/p>\n<p>Two locals have received the (dubious?) honor of having millipedes named after them.<\/p>\n<p>David Steinmann, a wetlands biologist from Boulder, spends his free time crawling around in caves discovering new life forms.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>He has rewarded two of the people who have helped him in those pursuits by lending their names to the specific epithet of new millipede species.<\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-4.48.13-PM.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-997129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-4.48.13-PM.jpg 276w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-4.48.13-PM-235x300.jpg 235w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 276px) 100vw, 276px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Steve Beckley<\/strong><br \/><em>Millipedes-gpi-061020-4.48.13-PM<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Steve Beckley, the owner of Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, can now boast of having one of the smallest millipedes on earth named for him, <em>Coloradesmus beckleyi<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSteve\u2019s just such a great guy. He\u2019s very helpful with the caving community in Colorado. \u2026 He\u2019s a wonderful steward of the cave, and it\u2019s a great place to visit,\u201d said Steinmann, also a research associate in the zoology department at the Denver Museum of Nature &amp; Science.<\/p>\n<p>Of having an arthropod named for him, Beckley said with a chuckle, \u201cIt\u2019s quite an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He did have high praise for Steinmann, though.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDave is phenomenal. He goes all over looking for special insects. He\u2019s found stuff all over the world,\u201d Beckley said.<\/p>\n<p>Kay Hopkins, outdoor recreation planner for the White River National Forest, has had a millipede in the same genus named for her. <em>C. hopkinsae<\/em> was found in several caves on national forest land, including Groaning Cave near the Deep Creek overlook on the Flat Tops.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s just been so helpful to me with getting permits and assisting me over the years and doing my collections in the caves, and also she\u2019s been such an advocate for cave protection within the [U.S.] Forest Service system. She\u2019s been a real asset to the community as well,\u201d Steinmann said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-2-705x1024.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-997128\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-2-705x1024.jpg 705w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-2-206x300.jpg 206w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/Millipedes-gpi-061020-2.jpg 715w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 705px) 100vw, 705px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>A scanning electron micrograph of Coloradesmus beckleyi.<\/strong><br \/><em>Millipedes-gpi-061020-2<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>C. Beckleyi<\/em> is about 4 mm long and as thin as dental floss, according to a press release.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Steinmann said he found it in 1999, but it wasn\u2019t until 2019 that it was identified and named.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt took two decades. It was very complicated to make the determination with the millipede expert,\u201d Steinmann said.<\/p>\n<p>While the generic name <em>Coloradesmus<\/em> was selected because the millipedes are known only from Colorado, Steinmann thinks it\u2019s a strong possibility that the millipedes exist elsewhere.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found some about 5 miles from the Wyoming border, so I could easily see them being in Wyoming. Actually, no one\u2019s hardly ever looked for cave life in Montana or Wyoming or South Dakota. Who knows what\u2019s up there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>These millipedes live in total darkness and are eyeless and albino. They sense their surroundings using antennae and small hairs called setae, according to the press release.&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Steinmann said they eat organic matter, pieces of old wood, bacteria and animal scat. \u201cNothing else eats them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe Beckley and Hopkins will be relieved to hear that.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:cwertheim@postindependent.com\">cwertheim@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/glenwood-locals-get-millipedes-named-in-their-honor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coloradesmus warneri is one of four millipede species recently identified from Colorado caves. C. warneri is about the same size as C. beckleyi, which is to say tiny.David Steinmann It\u2019s the little things that count. And these little things have 17 pairs of legs to count with. Two locals have received the (dubious?) honor of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1320426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-03 19:21:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}