There were two main hypotheses, says Simon Scarpetta, an evolutionary biologist at the University of San Francisco: Researchers thought the iguanas either drifted on vegetation rafts to Fiji from the Americas, or extinct ancestors migrated a shorter distance from Asia or Australia.
Though the specimens provide a wealth of information about Arthropleura, there’s a lot left to learn about this mighty millipede, including what it might have eaten and whether it walked on land, underwater or was capable of both.
For instance, today’s El Niño-Southern Oscillation — a periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean that brings heat and aridity to northern North America, dampens the Atlantic hurricane season, and induces droughts and floods globally — lasts roughly a year (SN: 2/13/23).
