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Photo#90901
WBC Scutigeromorph - Scutigera

WBC Scutigeromorph - Scutigera
World Birding Center HQ at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, Hidalgo County, Texas, USA
October 12, 2006
This was another example (along with my recently uploaded Centuroides, and some mantids yet to come) of predators which gathered under the park's brightest light to grab insects the light brought in. The Guide currently shows only one family, genus, and species of Scutigeromorph, but I see published references on-line of at least three other families and who knows how many species. This one's red patches seem fairly distinct from the images of the ubiquitous Scutigera coleoptrata.

Moved
Moved from Sphenodononema guildingii after supplying a specimen to Dr. Shelley, who identified it using characteristics of the antennae.

Moved
Moved from House Centipedes.

Scutigeromorpha: Pselliodidae
Sphenodononema guildingii (Newport, 1845), as per joshua's comment. This is a Neotropical centipede, common particularly on Caribbean Islands and in South & Central America, but which has never been formally reported or documented from the continental USA (it is in Puerto Rico & US Virgin Islands). I particularly need a specimen to confirm this id., made solely from this photo.

tentative ID
Rowland Shelley e-mailed me to say that he suspects this critter to be Sphendononema guildingi (family Pselliodidae), but that he needs a specimen to confirm the ID. If confirmed, this would apparently be the first record of any Pselliodid on the North American continent! Stay tuned....

Joshua S. Rose, Ph.D.
World Birding Center
Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park
joshua.rose_NO_SPAM@tpwd.state.tx.us
956-584-9156 x 236

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