An artful revision of dragon millipedes

Descriptive taxonomy, the core-business of EJT, documents the seemingly endless variety in form, shape, colour and sound of the biodiversity all around us. The extent of this variety is more than astonishing in itself. However, some groups of organisms will touch the sense for beauty in us humans more than others. We all know the impact that orchids, paradise birds and some butterflies can have on us, children and adults alike. The impressive beauty of other groups, however, remains largely hidden, simply because they are less well known.

This week, EJT publishes two papers by Ruttapon Srisonchai and co-workers on new genera and species of dragon millipedes from Thailand. The scientific pictures (photographs and line drawings) are impressive enough by themselves. However, each of these papers also includes a watercolour painting by the Thai artist Photchana Kriatpraprai. To ensure that non-millipede workers can also observe the beauty of these paintings and of the dragon millipedes themselves, we exceptionally present them here for all to enjoy.