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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Centipedes (Chilopoda) » Stone Centipedes (Lithobiomorpha)
Photo#239142
Is this a Centipede?
Copyright © 2008 HandsOff

Is this a Centipede?
Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County, California, USA
October 28, 2008
Size: roughly 50mm (2 in,)
Is this a centipede? What I think of centipedes have a more long thin uniform appearance. I've seen a couple of these lately. This one is the darker colored and larger of the two.

I had the idea that centipedes were predators, and so was confused by the absence of large mandibles until I realized that that lower ridge around the entire head seems to be a huge set of fangs!
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Contributed by HandsOff on 10 November, 2008 - 3:11pm
Last updated 11 November, 2008 - 9:38pm

Yes
Yes it's a centipede, looks like Lithobiomorpha, the fangs are actually the first pair of legs that have been modified to be a poison delivery device.
… Adam J Bell, 10 November, 2008 - 3:47pm login or register to post comments

 
Re Fangs!
They look like they could puncture skin! I added the additional rough guess of 2 inches for length, after seeing similar looking specimen photos of much larger individuals. Eventually, I will hopefully update that, but it is a ballpark figure.

I noticed that some do not have the alternating narrow and wide segments. Armed with your guess, and this new data, I will try to get at a ID!
… HandsOff, 11 November, 2008 - 12:08pm login or register to post comments

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