Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Scolopendra heros - Giant Redheaded Centipede

Monster centipede (crawling away) - Scolopendra heros Monster centipede (head to right) - Scolopendra heros Giant Redheaded Centipede - Scolopendra heros monster centipede - Scolopendra heros Giant Red-Headed Centipede - Scolopendra heros Giant Dessert Centipede - Scolopendra heros Scolopendra heros arizonensis - Scolopendra heros Scolopendra heros
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Chilopoda (Centipedes)
Order Scolopendromorpha (Tropical Centipedes)
Family Scolopendridae
Genus Scolopendra
Species heros (Giant Redheaded Centipede)
Size
Specimens average about 6.5" in length, and they may reach nearly 8" in some instances.
The largest-bodied centipede in North America, growing up to 7 inches or so.(Dr Rowland Shelley)
Range
The species is also known to occur at least in Arkansas, southern Missouri, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico.
It ranges from Kansas & southern Missouri to Louisiana, and westward through Texas & New Mexico/eastern Colorado to the Colorado River in Arizona. It ranges southward about 1/4 of the way into Mexico, and has not been authentically found west of the Colorado River in California. (Dr Rowland Shelley)
Food
All centipedes are believed to be predators. Their diet is composed primarily of small arthropods, although some scolopendromorphs have been found feeding on toads, small snakes, and other vertebrates.
Life Cycle
Scolopendromorphs lay eggs, often in cavities hollowed out in pieces of decayed wood, and then they watch over them and the juveniles that hatch. The female winds herself around the egg mass, her legs directed toward the eggs.
Remarks
There are many color variants of Scolopendra heros Girard, 1853
Internet References