Red-headed Centipede

Description:

Adult scolopenders measure up to 5.1 inches (130 millimeters), with the females usually larger. They are variable in color, with the head and body yellowish or brown with darker bands. Each side of the head has a small cluster of four simple eyes. The antennae have seventeen to twenty-three segments. The body has twenty-one pairs of legs. They eat spiders, mites, flies, beetles, ants, termites, cockroaches, and other centipedes. Captive individuals will attack small frogs and toads. Scolopenders hunt at night and spend their days in leaf litter, under logs, or beneath loose bark. When threatened they can run fast or burrow quickly in leaf litter. They are active throughout most of the year in the warmer parts of their range. Males deposit a bean-shaped sperm packet measuring 0.01 inches (2.5 millimeters) onto a web. Females dig brood chambers in soil under rocks and lay twenty-six to eighty-six greenish yellow eggs. In Nigeria, the young reach adulthood within a year, with two generations produced each year.

Habitat:

The scolopender's habitat varies; they are found anywhere from desert to rainforest.

Notes:

Other Names : Tanzanian blue Ringleg Centipede he millipede Scolopendra morsitans is believed to be at least partly responsible for the decline of the 'Critically Endangered (CR)' St Helena giant earwig (see Labidura herculeana in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) , giant ground beetle on Saint Helena and probably other endemic invertebrates on Ascension.