The Shocking Pink Dragon Millipede, otherwise less descriptively known as Desmoxytes purpurosea, is a spiny and toxic millipede aptly named for its bright pink color. It was "discovered" in Thailand in 2007 and introduced to science by Henrik Enghoff, Chirasak Sutcharit and Somsak Panha in that year.

It became a bit of a media cause célèbre when it was named third in the top ten new species in 2008 by the International Institute for Species Exploration and had its proverbial 15 minutes of fame by appearing in just about every newspaper worldwide.

These adult millipedes are approximately 3 cm long and live on limestone karsts and in the open on leaf litter. They have glands that produce hydrogen cyanide to protect them from predators and are reported to give off a smell of "almonds" when attacked.

They are quite easy to spot in the Karsts of Uthai Thani and these samples (click on Read more....) were found at a height of around 150 metres at the Khao Pla Ra site in Lan Sak.