Order Scolopendromorpha - Bark Centipedes

Classification · Numbers · Identification · Range · Food · Remarks · Print References · Works Cited

Giant Redheaded Centipede? - Scolopendra heros

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Myriapoda (Myriapods)

Class Chilopoda (Centipedes)

Order Scolopendromorpha (Bark Centipedes)

Numbers

3 family worldwide, all represented in NA; in our area, 27 spp. (incl. 6 introduced) in 9 genera; worldwide, 33 genera and ~600 described (estimated 800) spp.(1)(2)

Identification

21 (Scolopendridae, except Scolopendropsis, and Cryptopidae) or 23 pairs of legs (Scolopocryptopidae)(1)

Range

in warmer regions worldwide; in our area much more diverse towards the south, esp. in states bordering Mexico; two spp. reach Canada (so. ON, BC) and one, so. AK(2)

Food

Predacious

Remarks

They can bite and also pinch with their last pair of legs. Bites may cause intense pain, swelling, discoloration, numbness, and necrosis, and require medical assistance, although there are no really dangerous, deadly centipedes, and no confirmed human fatalities.(1)

Print References

Cloudsley-Thompson J.L. (1958) Spiders, scorpions, centipedes, and mites. (revised ed. 1968). Pegamon, Oxford. 228 pp.

Crabill, R.E., Jr. (1960). A new American genus of cryptopid centipede, with an annotated key to the scolopendromorph genera from American north of Mexico. Proc. of the U. S. Nat. Mus., 111, 1–15. (Full Text)

Shelley R.M. (2002) A synopsis of the North American centipedes of the order Scolopendromorpha (Chilopoda). Virginia Museum of Natural History Memoir 5:1-108. (Order here)

Works Cited

1.	Shelley R.M. The myriapods, the world’s leggiest animals

2.	Shelley R.M. (2002-) The centipede order Scolopendromorpha in North America

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:31pm
Additional contributions by Lynette Elliott, Chuck Entz, Mike Quinn, Aaron Schusteff, v belov, Harsi S. Parker, Joseph DeSisto Alling
Last updated 24 May, 2018 - 11:25am

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