Pneumodesmus

Pneumodesmus newmani is a species of millipede that lived during the late Wenlock epoch of the Silurian period around . 

It is the first myriapod fossil, and the oldest known creature to have lived on land. The single specimen was discovered in 2004 near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. 

Discovery and naming
The fossil of P. newmani was found by Mike Newman. He is a bus driver and amateur palaeontologist from Aberdeen. The fossil was in a layer of sandstone rocks on the foreshore of Cowie, near Stonehaven. The species was later called "newmani" in honour of its finder. The  fossil is kept in National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. 

 Description 
In the photograph above, you can see the back is covered with hard plates, and wispy slender legs. The animal is definitely segmented, and it is like, or related to, millipedes.

Its cuticle has what look like openings or spiracles. These are part of a gas exchange system that would work in air. So P. newmani is thought to be the earliest documented arthropod with a tracheal system, and the first known oxygen-breathing animal on land.

 References 

Category:Millipedes
Category:Fossils
Category:Scotland