Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Class Chilopoda - Centipedes

monster centipede - Scolopendra heros House Centipede  - Scutigera coleoptrata centipede under cowpie in prairie Family Lithobiidae? Giant Redheaded Centipede? - Scolopendra heros Centipede brooding young - Scolopocryptops Mecistocephalidae-Dicellophilus anomalus - Dicellophilus anomalus pede84 - Scutigera coleoptrata
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Myriapoda (Myriapods)
Class Chilopoda (Centipedes)
Other Common Names
Rainworms, Hundred-leggers
Numbers
Estimated ca. 8,000 spp. globally (<3,000 described) arranged into 23 families (9 in NA) and 5 orders (4 in NA); at least 8 spp. of our fauna are adventive(1)(2)
nearctic fauna poorly inventoried, with 54 spp. recorded in Canada alone (twice as many estimated)(3), prob. hundreds in the US
Size
10-270+ mm worldwide; in our area, Scolopendra heros is the largest species, reaching ~150 mm
Identification
Antennae large; one pair of legs per body segment (15-191 pairs, always an odd number); hind legs extend backwards. All possess “poison claws” (prehensors, forcipules) under the head. Most centipedes run fast, but Geophilomorpha are rather sluggish.(1)
Range
Worldwide; some range beyond the Arctic Circle(1)
Habitat
wide variety of habitats; abundant in deserts(1)
under bark, in rotting logs, under stones or boards (4)
Food
Primarily smaller arthropods, but larger spp. of Scolopendromorpha may attack (and feed on) small vertebrates; prey is killed by venom injected through the poison claws(1)
Remarks
Larger species can inflict a painful bite if handled
Print References
Bonato et al. (2010) A common terminology for the external anatomy of centipedes (Chilopoda). ZooKeys 69: 17–51. (Full text)
(5)
Bailey, J. W. (1928). The Chilopoda of New York State, with notes on the Diplopoda (No. 276). University of the State of New York.
Edgecombe, G. D., & Giribet, G. (2007). Evolutionary biology of centipedes (Myriapoda: Chilopoda). Annu. Rev. Entomol., 52, 151-170.
Internet References
Fact sheet by Gordon Ramel