Centipedes are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda, an arthropod group which includes millipedes and other multi-legged animals. Centipedes are elongated segmented (metameric) creatures with one pair of legs per body segment. All centipedes are venomous and can inflict painful stings, injecting their venom through pincer-like appendages known as forcipules or toxicognaths, which are actually modified legs instead of fangs. Despite the name, no centipede has exactly 100 pairs of legs; number of legs ranges from 15 pairs to 191 pairs, always an odd number.
Pauropoda is a class of small, pale, millipede-like arthropods in the subphylum Myriapoda. More than 900 species in twelve families are found worldwide, living in soil and leaf mold. Pauropods look like centipedes or millipedes and may be a sister group of the latter, but a close relationship with Symphyla has also been posited. The name Pauropoda derives from the Greek pauros and pous or podus, because most species in this class have only nine pairs of legs as adults, a smaller number than those found among adults in any other class of myriapods.
Symphylans, also known as garden centipedes or pseudocentipedes, are soil-dwelling arthropods of the class Symphyla in the subphylum Myriapoda. Symphylans resemble centipedes, but are very small, non-venomous, and only distantly related to both centipedes and millipedes. More than 200 species are known worldwide.
Scutigera coleoptrata, also known as the house centipede, is a species of centipede that is typically yellowish-grey and has up to 15 pairs of long legs. Originating in the Mediterranean region, it has spread to other parts of the world, where it can live in human homes. It is an insectivore; it kills and eats other arthropods, such as insects and arachnids.
Myriapods are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial.
Scutigera is a centipede genus in the scutigeromorph family Scutigeridae, a group of centipedes with long limbs and true compound eyes. It compose of more than 30 species, including the most common and well-studied Scutigera coleoptrata.
The Geophilomorpha, commonly known as soil centipedes, are epimorphic and bear upwards of 27 leg-bearing segments. They are eyeless and blind, and bear spiracles on all leg-bearing segments—in contrast to other groups, which usually bear them only on their 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th, 12th, and 14th segments—a "mid-body break", accompanied by a change in tagmatic shape, occurring roughly at the interchange from odd to even segments. This group is the most diverse centipede order, with 230 genera. Centipedes in this order each have an odd number of leg-bearing segments ranging from 27 to 191. They also have 14–segmented antennae. This order is a monophyletic group including two suborders: the monophyletic Placodesmata, which contains Mecistocephalidae, and Adesmata, which includes the superfamilies Himantarioidea and Geophiloidea. Segment number is usually fixed by species in the family Mecistocephalidae, unlike the case in other families in this order, in which the segment number usually varies within each species. The name "Geophilomorpha" is from Ancient Greek roots meaning "formed to love the earth."
The Craterostigmomorpha are the least diverse centipede clade, comprising only two extant species, both in the genus Craterostigmus. Their geographic range is restricted to Tasmania and New Zealand. There is a single ocellus on each side of the head capsule. They have a distinct body plan; their anamorphosis comprises a single stage: in their first moult, they grow from having 12 trunk segments to having 15. Adult centipedes in this order, like those in Scutigeromorpha and Lithobiomorpha, have 15 leg-bearing segments. Their low diversity and intermediate position between the primitive anamorphic centipedes and the derived Epimorpha has led to them being likened to the platypus. They represent the survivors of a once diverse clade. Maternal brooding unites the Craterostigmomorpha with the Epimorpha into the clade Phylactometria which includes Craterostigmomorpha, Scolopendromorpha and Geophilomorpha. This trait is thought to be closely linked with the presence of sternal pores, which secrete sticky or noxious secretions, which mainly serve to repel predators and parasites. The presence of these pores on the Devonian Devonobius which is included in own order Devonobiomorpha permits its inclusion in this clade, allowing its divergence of Lithobiomorpha from Phylactometria to be dated to 375 million years ago.
The Lithobiomorpha, also known as stone centipedes, are an order of anamorphic centipedes; they reach a mature segment count of 15 trunk segments. This group has lost the compound eyes, and sometimes has no eyes altogether. Instead, its eyes have a single ocellus or a group of ocelli. Its spiracles are paired and can be found laterally. Every leg-bearing segment of this organism has a separate tergite, these alternating in length apart from a pair of long tergites on each of segments 7 and 8. It also has relatively short antennae and legs compared to the Scutigeromorpha. Two families are included, the Henicopidae and Lithobiidae. Although they have previously been regarded as wholly carnivorous, feeding primarily on insects but also occasionally slugs and worms, they have been proven to feed on leaf litter, as well as associated small animals.
Allothereua maculata is a species of centipedes found in Australia known as the house centipede – a name applied elsewhere to other species.
Himantariidae is a monophyletic family of centipedes in the order Geophilomorpha and superfamily Himantarioidea, found almost exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere. Centipedes in this family feature a short head with a concave labral margin bearing a row of denticles, a single dentate lamella and some pectinate lamellae on each mandible, second maxillae with strongly tapering telopodites and slightly spatulate claws, and a stout forcipular segment with short forcipules and a wide tergite; the ultimate legs usually have no pretarsus, and the female gonopods are distinct and biarticulate.
Oryidae is a monophyletic family of soil centipedes belonging to the superfamily Himantarioidea.
Thereuonema tuberculata is a centipede species in the family Scutigeridae. It is native to China, the Korean peninsula, and Japan, and has recently been identified as an introduced species in North America where it is found primarily in the eastern United States, but has been found as far west as Nebraska. In its introduced range it is commonly confused with Scutigera coleoptrata.
Dendrothereua is a genus of house centipedes in the family Scutigeridae. There are at least three described species in Dendrothereua, found in the southern United States and the Neotropics.
Mecistocephalidae is a monophyletic family of centipedes in the order Geophilomorpha. It is the only family in the suborder Placodesmata. Most species in this family live in tropical or subtropical regions, but some occur in temperate regions. This family is the third most diverse in the order Geophiliomorpha, with about 170 species, including about 130 species in the genus Mecistocephalus.
Plutonium zwierleini, in the monotypic genus Plutonium, is one of the largest scolopendromorph centipedes in Europe, and one of the few potentially harmful to humans. Nevertheless, it has been rarely reported, only from the southern part of the Iberian and Italian peninsulas, Sardinia and Sicily.
Pselliodidae is a family of small centipedes, identical and closely related to house centipedes.
Geophilus persephones is a species of soil centipede in the family Geophilidae discovered in 1999. This species is named after Persephone, the queen of the underworld in Greek mythology, and found in caves in the Gouffre de la Pierre Saint-Martin. It has elongated antennae and legs as well as abundant sensory setae, and like other geophilomorhps it lacks sight, has a flattened trunk, and is well adapted to underground life. This species was the first troglomorphic geophilomorph ever discovered and one of the only two in existence along with Geophilus hadesi. Known from a single male specimen measuring 16.2 mm in length, this species has only 29 pairs of legs, one of only two species in the Geophilidae family to have so few leg pairs.
Gonibregmatidae are a paraphyletic family of soil centipedes belonging to the superfamily Geophiloidea.
Gonibregmatus is a genus of centipedes in the family Gonibregmatidae. It was described by British entomologist George Newport in 1843.
