Explanation of Names
Scutigera coleoptrata (Linnaeus 1758)
Size
body up to 50 mm, usually 25‒30 mm
Range
Native to the Mediterranean region, has spread throughout much of Eurasia and North America.
Habitat
Mostly encountered indoors in damp areas such as bathrooms, cellars, &c. It will venture beyond such areas and is often seen scurrying across floors or walls. Outdoors, under logs, rocks, and similar moist protected places.
Season
Indoors, likely to be found year-round, provided the temperatures are warm, and prey available. In the north they will only be found outside during summer, in the south they may live outdoors all year long
Food
other arthropods, including cockroach nymphs, flies, moths, bedbugs, crickets, silverfish, earwigs, and small spiders
Life Cycle
A female may lay from 35 to >100 eggs. Larvae hatch with 4 pairs of legs and get more as they mature, up to 15 pairs at maturity.
Remarks
not dangerous to humans, 'jaws' (actually modified front legs) cannot easily pierce human skin
Print References
Lewis J.G.E. (1981) The biology of centipedes. Cambridge University press, Cambridge. 476 pp.
