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.
The Chinese red-headed centipede, also known as the Chinese red head, is a centipede from East Asia. It averages 20 cm (8 in) in length and lives in damp environments.
The southern red-backed salamander is a species of salamander endemic to the United States. It is found in four widely disjunct populations: one in central Louisiana; one in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma; one in central Missouri; and one from southeastern Tennessee, to southwestern North Carolina, western Georgia, and eastern Alabama. It is sometimes referred to as the Georgia red-backed salamander or the Ouachita red-backed salamander. It was once considered a subspecies of the red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus.
The southeastern myotis is a small bat found throughout the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Plain of the southeastern United States.
Scolopendra subspinipes is a species of very large centipede found throughout southeastern Asia. One of the most widespread and common species in the genus Scolopendra, it is also found on virtually all land areas around and within the Indian Ocean, all of tropical and subtropical Asia from Russia to the islands of Malaysia and Indonesia, Australia, South and Central America, the Caribbean islands, and possibly parts of the southern United States, but how much of this range is natural and how much due to human introduction is unclear. With a wide geographic range and numerous color variations, the species is known by many common names, including jungle centipede, orange-legged centipede, Hawaiian centipede, and Vietnamese centipede.
Ethmostigmus rubripes, commonly known as the giant centipede, is a species of centipede in the family Scolopendridae. It is a solitary nocturnal predator found across Asia and Oceania, with three subspecies currently described.
Scolopendridae is a family of large centipedes.
The Scolopendromorpha, also known as tropical centipedes and bark centipedes, are an order of centipedes whose members are epimorphic and usually possess 21 or 23 trunk segments with the same number of paired legs. The number of leg pairs is fixed at 21 for most species in this order and fixed at 23 for the remaining species, except for two species with intraspecific variation: Scolopendropsis bahiensis, which has 21 or 23 leg pairs, and Scolopendropsis duplicata, which has 39 or 43 leg pairs. Species in this order have antennae with 17 or more segments. The order comprises the five families Cryptopidae, Scolopendridae, Mimopidae, Scolopocryptopidae, and Plutoniumidae. Nearly all species in the family Scolopendridae have four ocelli on each side of the head, and the genus Mimops features a pale area often considered an ocellus on each side of the head, whereas the other three families are blind. Species in the family Scolopocryptopidae have 23 leg-bearing segments, whereas species in all other families in this order have only 21 leg-bearing segments. The only 3 known amphibious centipedes, Scolopendra cataracta, Scolopendra paradoxa and Scolopendra alcyona belong to this order.
Scolopendra polymorpha, the common desert centipede, tiger centipede, banded desert centipede, or Sonoran Desert centipede, is a centipede species found in western North America and the Hawaiian Islands.
Haplophilus subterraneus, commonly known as the western yellow centipede is a species of centipede in the family Himantariidae that can be found in Central Europe, Ireland, Newfoundland, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. It was recorded from a compost heap of the Botanical Garden at the University of Oslo at Teryen, Oslo in 1992 and 1995.
Scolopocryptopidae is a family of blind centipedes. The number of leg-bearing segments is fixed at 23 for species in this family, which distinguishes the species in this family from all other centipede species.
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.
Orphnaeus brevilabiatus is a species of centipede in the family Oryidae.
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.
Schendylidae is a family of centipedes in the order Geophilomorpha found in the Americas, the Palearctic region, Africa, Madagascar, Australia, and southeast Asia, and also on some Pacific islands.
Scolopendra dehaani, common name Giant Vietnamese centipede, is a large Scolopendrid centipede found across Mainland Southeast Asia. It is also found in India, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Scolopendra japonica, formerly classified as Scolopendra subspinipes japonica, is a species of scolopendrid centipede mostly found in Japan, although specimens have been reported in other parts of Eastern Asia such as China, Taiwan, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. They usually grow between 7.5 and 13 centimetres in length. It is known by the common names Japanese giant centipede and blue-head centipede.
Scolopendra galapagoensis, also known as the Galápagos centipede and Darwin's goliath centipede, is species of very large centipede in the family Scolopendridae. It is the only representative of the genus Scolopendra on the Galapagos Islands, among twelve other species of centipede present on the Islands. It is also found on mainland South America in Ecuador and Peru, and on Cocos Island in Costa Rica.
Craterostigmus tasmanianus, also known as the Tasmanian remarkable centipede, is a species of Tasmanian centipede endemic and widespread on the island.
Pectiniunguis is a genus of centipedes in the family Schendylidae. It was described by American naturalist Charles Harvey Bollman in 1889. Centipedes in this genus feature second maxillae with claws fringed by two rows of filaments, transversally elliptical sternal pore-fields on almost all trunk segments, two pores on each coxopleuron, and ultimate legs without claws. These centipedes range from 16 mm to 67 mm in length, have 35 to 73 pairs of legs, and are found in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, Fiji, and west Africa. The African species Pectiniunguis minutus is notable not only for being the smallest in this genus but also for having as few as 35 leg pairs, the minimum number in this genus. The Brazilian species P. ducalis is notable not only for being the largest in this genus but also for having as many as 73 leg pairs, the maximum number in this genus.
