Centipede follow-up

May 26th, 2008

Years ago, I wrote about a centipede bite I experienced. There have been a steady number of comments building up over the years, and I hope I had compiled the websites I had looked up that time about centipedes. I remember finding a site with pictures of different centipedes. I cant seem to find the website anymore, but I tried to find a picture of the species of centipede that had bred in our garden.

I wasn’t very descriptive before in my last post, aside from the length of the centipede (the one that bit me – TOTBM). The usual centipede I would imagine had I not seen TOTBM, would be the long red kind (Vietnamese centipede, Scolopendra subspinipes). But TOTBM had a grayish fat body, with yellow legs, a huge orange head and tailtip. I found several pictures that looked like TOTBM, one called the Tiger centipede (also known as Asian giant-red headed centipede, Scolopendra heros). I had shivers just looking at different ‘real pictures’, but I can live with a cartoon to attach here:
(centipede experts, welcome to correct the names I found)

Somewhere I had also read that centipedes are cousins of crustaceans (e.g., crabs, lobsters) owing to their segmented bodies (Phylum: Arthropoda). There are about 8,000 different species of centipede, and the most colorful ones are in the tropics (such as of course, the Philippines). I haven’t met anyone who actually ‘collects’ centipedes, but there are who do. Wonder what they think, and how they can surpass the tingly sensation that most of us get from just seeing these wiggly creepy slithery crawlies.

*shiver shiver*

In Wikipedia, it says that the hazards of a centipede bite to humans are mostly just great pain due to the poison/venom (as we all know now). However, people who are known to have allergies to bee stings have are in risk to be in greater danger. This also applies to small animals and children.

So may our pets and babies be safe and kept very far away from them!!! They’re gone from our house now (or so I think… and hope!) ever since we had the place cemented over. I can remember there were just sooooo many baby centipedes (as small as less than a cm long) and a few big ones (an inch or two long). And TOTBM which was of course the largest one I saw, more than half a foot! But yeah just to say, my mom was the one who killed it by pouring hot water on it when it got trapped!

2 Responses to “Centipede follow-up”

  1. # Wyatt Colemanon 18 Dec 2008 at 8:38 am

    Your red headed centipede is, most likely, a variety of [i]scolopendra mutilans[/i]. The [i]scolopendra heros[/i] is a native of southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The common name of the variety of mutilans is “Chinese Red Headed Centipede.” One fascinating quality of the mutilans is that it, unlike other scolopendra species, will live communally. Could you imagine accidentally dipping your hand into a nest of them? I keep a scolopendra heros in a tank in my living room. I have owned a Malaysian Cherry Red and a Vietnamese (subspinipes). Be glad the latter did not bite you.

    Wyatt

  2. # Alice Lynn (Kyshone)on 31 Dec 2008 at 1:09 pm

    yeah…
    i caught a centipede yesterday and i’m searching for what kind it is…
    it looks kinda like the one in the picture:
    mine is jet black
    with bright yellow legs
    a bright orange head with bright yellow antennas
    but the (what i call “butt antennas”)are black with yellow tips (in the picture they are just yellow)

    so yeah… i have no clue o.0″

Trackback URI | Comments RSS

Leave a Reply