Scolopendra dehaani

Giant Vietnamese centipede
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Myriapoda
Class:	Chilopoda
Order:	Scolopendromorpha
Family:	Scolopendridae
Genus:	Scolopendra
Species:	S. dehaani
Binomial name
Scolopendra dehaani Brandt, 1840
Synonyms
List Scolopendra subspinipes dehaani (Attems, 1930) [1] Scolopendra arborea (Lewis, 1982), (Subjective, Siriwut W, Edgecombe GD,et al.(2016) Scolopendra childreni Newport, 1844 Scolopendra concolor Newport, 1845 Scolopendra inermis Newport, 1845 Scolopendra inermipes Koch, 1847 Scolopendra silhetensis Newport, 1845 Scolopendra lucasii Gervais, 1847 Scolopendra horrida Koch, 1847 Scolopendra limicolor Wood, 1861 Scolopendra bispinipes Wood, 1862 Scolopendra fissispina Koch, 1865 Scolopendra nudipes Tömösváry, 1885 Scolopendra foveolata Verhoeff, 1937

Scolopendra dehaani, the giant Vietnamese centipede, is a large scolopendrid centipede found across Mainland Southeast Asia. ^{[2] [3]} It is also found in India, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. ^[1]

Taxonomy

Scolopendra dehaani was originally named by Brandt in 1840, but was reclassified by Carl Attems in 1930 as a subspecies of Scolopendra subspinipes . A 2012 paper reclassified it as a separate species. ^[1]

Morphology

Scolopendra dehaani is one of the largest centipedes in the genus Scolopendra , and some specimens have been found to reach or exceed 25 cm in length. ^{[2] [4]} It usually lives for five to six years. ^[5] Specimens usually have brownish-orange tergites (the hard plates on the tops of the segments) and yellow . In a 2016 paper, the authors suggested S. dehaani has five distinct colour morphs: four were dichromatic, one other was monochromatic, and all were generally reddish, brown, or orange in coloration:

#	Head	Segments	Tergites	Antennae	Legs	Pleurites
1	Dark brown	Dark brown	Back border with dark band	Reddish-brown	Chestnut brown	Brownish
2	"Brown or yellowish orange"	"Brown or yellowish orange"	Back border with dark band	Yellowish orange	Dark Brown	Pale Grey
3	Reddish-brown	Reddish-brown	-	Reddish-brown	Yellowish, except 20th and ultimate legs, which are reddish-brown.	Brownish
4	Bright red		Back border with dark band	Yellow or bright orange	Yellowish, except 20th and ultimate legs, which are reddish.	Orange
5	Cherry red	Cherry red	Back border with dark band	Reddish or orange	Reddish	Orange

^[4]

Diet

Scolopendra dehaani usually preys on smaller arthropods such as insects, spiders, and vinegaroons, but they have been found eating small snakes and other vertebrates, including, in one observation, a tree frog. ^{[6] [5] [2] [7]}

One paper suggested that S. dehaani forages arboreally, and it has even been recorded doing so in daytime. ^[7]

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  S. dehaani eating a snake of the genus Hypsiscopus.

References

1. Review of the subspecies of Scolopendra subspinipes Leach, 1815 with the new description of the South Chinese member of the genus Scolopendra Linnaeus, 1758 named Scolopendra hainanum spec. nov. (Myriapoda, Chilopoda, Scolopendridae) by Christian Kronmüller
2. Nariman Vazifdar, Patrick W. Aust, Mervyn D’Costa, A Centipede (Scolopendra dehaani) Feeding on a Juvenile Andaman Wolfsnake (Lycodon hypsirhinoides) on Havelock Island, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
3. "ITIS - Report: Scolopendra dehaani". www.itis.gov. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
4. Siriwut, Warut; Edgecombe, Gregory; Sutcharit, Chirasak; Tongkerd, Piyoros; Panha, Somsak (2016-05-17). "A taxonomic review of the centipede genus Scolopendra Linnaeus, 1758 (Scolopendromorpha, Scolopendridae) in mainland Southeast Asia, with description of a new species from Laos". ZooKeys (590): 1–124. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.590.7950 . ISSN   1313-2970. PMC   4926625 . PMID   27408540.
5. "Vietnam Giant Red Legs Centipede (Scolopendra dehaani)". www.myhomenature.com. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
6. Hodges, Cameron, and Goodyear, Jesse (January 2021). "a) A dark colored S. dehaani was found as it was feeding on a freshly killed Polypedates". ResearchGate.
7. Novel foraging behaviors of Scolopendra dehaani (Chilopoda: Scolopendridae) in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, Hodges, Cameron and Goodyear, Jesse, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348890454_Novel_foraging_behaviors_of_Scolopendra_dehaani_Chilopoda_Scolopendridae_in_Nakhon_Ratchasima_Thailand