What’s this centipede/millipede?
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
November 7, 2010 8:37 pm
Hello! I’ve lived in the same house for 3 years now and just started seeing these bugs around in the last year. (S. Florida, Ft. Lauderdale) I think it’s odd that I did not see them for the first 2 years we lived here. The largest ones are about 2-2.5 inches long and about the diameter of a pencil. They curl up into a ball when startled but will also crawl over my hand easily. I grew up in this area and don’t recall seeing them in any other house I’ve lived in. I live in a single family home in a well-maintained residental neighborhood. We do have a canal in the backyard (but so did other houses I lived in). Thank you!
Signature: Jen from S. Florida
Rusty Millipede
Hi Jen,
We did not have an opportunity to post your letter on the day it arrived, and we decided to try to research your questions this morning. We learned on BugGuide that this is a Rusty Millipede, Trigoniulus corallinus, and that it is an imported species from Asia according to a comment by Rowland Shelley on BugGuide. We would like to research this a bit more to find out when it was introduced and how far it has spread in North America. Right now, BugGuide only reports it from Florida. Though we do not have access to the entire article, BioOne indicates that an article entitled INTRODUCTION OF THE MILLIPED, TRIGONIULUS CORALLINUS (GERVAIS, 1847) (SPIROBOLIDA: TRIGONIULIDAE), IN FLORIDA, U.S.A was published in Entomological News in 2005.
Rusty Millipede
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Happy house centipede with fast food
Location: Carroll County Maryland
September 29, 2010 9:50 pm
This site is one of the best on the web! I’ve used it many times for myself, and helped to educate my young daughters (and ok, my wife) on some amazing bugs. Thanks for all your work.
Just wanted to submit this beautiful house centipede enjoying a meal, helping us rid our garage of crickets. (It’s a big one – this is September, so that’s not a baby cricket!) I’ve seen many pics of them on your site, but none having lunch – as proof to the frightened humans out there of their beneficial ways!
I’m no bugman, but I do think these are amazing.
Signature: Barry in Maryland
House Centipede Eats Cricket
Hi Barry,
Thanks so much for the compliment. Though we have countless images of House Centipedes on our website and we always extoll their status as harmless and beneficial hunters, we don’t have many images of them eating. House Centipedes are fast and they are adept hunters, and though they frequently become Unnecessary Carnage, we always advise our readership to allow them to live in the home so that they can hunt cockroaches and other undesirable intruders. Thanks for your submission.
Yes, the centipedes are quick- but I actually get this sense that they are smart. Aside from the neural power it must take for something with 15 pairs of legs to move with that speed, they don’t seem just reactionary.
For a sense of intelligence, I put them right up there in my mind behind praying mantids, jumping spiders, and wolf spiders…just something a little more going on in there! Doesn’t mean my wife doesn’t shriek a little…!
On a side note, I wanted to thank you for making me look smart on identifying some unusual bugs in the past: An Eyed Elater that once landed on my leg up on the bluffs overlooking Harper’s Ferry, WV; a huge Dobsonfly I found on my truck hood last year; and the awesome Wheel (Assassin) Bug a few years back – we had a ton of them outside the house, they must have hatched from a nest in our yard somewhere, as I’ve only ever seen one or two since.
With regard to the Wheel Bug, in the Fall that year we capture a giant and pregnant orb weaver, and also a Wheel Bug and pitted them against each other in a bug container we have. The kids and I watched a fascinating match that was a standoff with the bug as the aggressor (I don’t think we’d have actually allowed carnage), and we eventually released both.
As a bugman, thought you might enjoy that story! I’m not a bug lover, but I do like to learn about and respect nature, and teach my kids to as well. Your site really helps with that.
Barry
Luminescent centripede
Fire Centipede and glowing slime
Luminescent centripede
Location: Fougamou, Gabon 1°13`S 10°36`E
September 19, 2010 5:19 am
Hello,
during a stay in Gabon I took this picture of a centripede. After contact he showed this green fluorescence.
Do you know how it is called?
Kind regards
Signature: Fabian
Fire Centipede
Hi Fabian,
We had never heard of a Centipede that exhibited bioluminescence, so we hit the search engines in an attempt to answer your questions. Surprisingly, the Orkin website had this information: “The so-called ‘fire centipede’ is a name used to refer to any centipede that exhibits bioluminescence. Often nocturnal, bioluminescent centipedes are uncommon and are not associated with any particular habitat. One fire centipede of repute is widely distributed in tropical Asia and Africa. Known to be the Orphaneus brevilabiatus, the said fire centipede would look something akin to a necklace of precious jewels if one were to come across it on a moonless night. A certain chemical substance secreted by the fire centipede produces this bioluminescence. The light appears to come from the secretions of two luminous patches near the ends of each segment of the centipede’s body. The source of the light is beneath the body of the insect and can be made out through the exterior. Another centipede that glows in the dark is the Geophilus electricus. This fire centipede is long and yellowish in color. Other than centipedes, millipedes also glow. Endemic to the Sierra Nevada of California, the species of millipedes designated as Luminodesmus sequoiae is known to emit light at night. From the moment they hatch, these millipedes glow. The source of their light is embedded in the deeper layers of their integument. Their luminescence is continuous, with no voluntary control.“ Our next stop was the Photochemistry and Photobiology page of the Wiley Online Library where the Biochemistry of Centipede Bioluminescense by James Michael Anderson was profiled along with this information: “The centipede (Orphaneous brevilabiatus) secretes a bioluminescent slime. The corrected emission spectrum of this luminescence was found to have maxima at about 510 and 480 nm. The reaction was found to require both a luciferin and luciferase and showed an unusually low pH optimum (4.6). Oxygen was required for the reaction, but oxygen could interact with one of the components allowing for anaerobic light emission.“ In an online article entitled Animals that use Bioluminescence by N. David, the author writes: “Some varieties of centipede, known collectively as fire centipedes, are also bioluminescent.“ A message board on the Wild About Britain website has an interesting dialog that refers to a Centipede that may be in the genus Geophilus. We were now satisfied that you actually encountered a bioluminescent Centipede which dispelled our first thought that somehow your camera captured a stray light source or that the digital photo file was somehow corrupted. We eventually found a photo of Geophilus carpophagus on the Natural England website where its bioluminescence was mentioned, and it does seem to resemble your specimen, but we are reluctant to provide any genus or species identification for you, preferring instead to have a chilopodist (could that be the name given to a centipede expert?) supply that information instead. We hope the more generic common name Fire Centipede will satisfy your curiosity.
Fire Centipede
Dear Daniel,
thank you very much for your quick and extensive answer!
Centipedes from the Philippines Part 5
Tropical Centipede
Centipedes from the Philippines Part 5
Location: Cebu, Philippines
September 15, 2010 2:29 am
Please help me ID these… Thank you!
Signature: JY
Tropical Centipede
Dear JY,
Each of the fourteen photographs of individual Centipedes you sent to us in five different emails are Tropical Centipedes in the order Scolopendromorpha. We suspect that they are color variations of the same species or subspecies, and we are posting a representative sample from your photographs that demonstrate the diversity of coloration and markings. We tried to search the internet and found a Scolopendromorph from the Philippines on the Arachnoboards forum, but the species is not identified. Scolopendromorpha.com has a photograph of a specimen from the Philippines identified as Scolopendra subspinipes. In our research, we did stumble upon a Philippine Tattoo Revival web page that indicates that headhunters from the Philippines had stylized Centipedes tattooed upon their bodies based on the number of human heads they had taken. The site states: “Kalinga men who killed two or more men had elaborate patterns applied to their arms and chests called biking, comprised of khaman (“head-axes”), ufug (“centipede scales”) and bodies of the centipede (gayaman), which were protective and spiritually charged symbols. The khaman design also covered portions of the torso, back, and thighs and centipede scales crossed the cheeks of the most successful warriors.”
Tropical Centipede
Your final image, labeled A4, is not a Centipede, but a Millipede in the class Diplopoda. Unlike predatory Centipedes, Millipedes feed on decaying plant material and they have two pairs of legs on each body segment while Centipedes have on pair of legs per segment.
Millipedes
Oh….. Hehe! I am really looking forward to i.d. these because my buyer from germany wants to buy some of them but he will only buy them if i get it identified hehehe
Dear JY,
Now we are concerned that you may be a poacher. Is it legal to collect exotic Tropical Centipedes in the Philippines? Is it legal to export living Philippine Centipedes to Germany? We were so incredibly touched by the image of the female Centipede cradling her brood that we fear that illegal collection may contribute to the demise of this noble creature in the wild on your island.
¶ Posted 15 September 2010 § ‡ ° Baby’s New Friend
Location: Southern New Jersey
September 4, 2010 2:28 pm
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my 8 month old son reaching for this fast-crawling bug! My heart nearly jumped out of my chest as I whisked him away. I don’t want to teach him to be scared of bugs, but don’t know what this is! Please help, so if I see another one I will know whether my fear is justified!
Thank you =)
Signature: Scared Mommy
Possibly Stone Centipede
Dear Scared Mommy,
What we can say for certain is that this is a Centipede and it is not a House Centipede which we tell people is a benign predator that will help keep their homes free of cockroaches and spiders. The legs on your Centipede are too short for it to be a House Centipede. The angle of your photograph with its foreshortening makes it difficult to make out details on the Centipede that might aid in our identification. This may be a Stone Centipede in the order Lithobiomorpha which BugGuide describes as having fifteen pairs of legs. That is the number we get when attempting to count on your photograph. Centipedes have fangs and venom, and though the bite is not deadly, it can be painful. The University of Kentucky Entomology website has a Centipede page with some good information, and a photo of a Stone Centipede. There is also a really nice page on the Stone Centipede on the Backyard Arthropod Project Blog about creatures from Michigan, or more specifically “A Field Guide to the North Side of Old Mill Hill, Atlantic Mine, MI.” We doubt the Stone Centipede would have bitten your son, but in the event he was bitten, there would be little more than a local reaction.
Thank you so much for your thorough response and information! Although I didn’t get a better photo of our centipede, I think your descriptions you sent seem to match what we saw. I am happy to know that the bite is not deadly, but will still try to find better playmates for our baby!
Long and Lean NOT every young girls dream!
Location: Hamlet, North Carolina
August 8, 2010 11:35 pm
Found this thing slithering along a base board in my son’ bedroom. What is it??
Thank You
House Centipede Carnage
While the lowly House Centipede may appear frightening, and it may not fulfill many expectations in the dreaminess department, it is nonetheless a beneficial predator. Tolerating its presence may help to prevent the proliferation of every homemaker’s nightmare, an infestation of Cockroaches. House Centipedes are harmless nocturnal predators that prey upon spiders and other unwanted insects and arthropods that enter the home and become a nuisance or otherwise cause harm or damage. We would encourage you to be tolerant the next time you see a House Centipede scurrying around indoors.
Thank you for identifying him for us. Had I seen it, I would have just removed him outside. My son (who killed it) has autism and he has a great fear of unknown bugs. I’ve tried to teach him to trap the bug and then show it to me, but he still kills them. 
I will be sure to let him know the bug is fine and explain to him their importance as well as their significance in the meaning of homeostasis. Again, thank you for your quick reply. You have just prevented any future demise to the house centipede. 
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I. D. this crazy looking bug, please.
July 13, 2010
Dear bugman: I think I’ve seen this bug before back in a summer night of 1992 in Japan. To my surprise, I saw this one at my dad’s house in Roseburg, Oregon. It was not easy to catch!!! With 30 legs it was very quick and could turn and move like Micheal Jordan!
Thank you, Dr. Lee Willis DDS
Southern OREGON
House Centipede
Dear Dr. Willis,
This common House Centipede is frequently found in the home where it startles residents. House Centipedes are harmless nocturnal predators that will help keep the home clear of cockroaches and other undesirable creatures.
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Giant Texas Red-Headed Centipede
July 9, 2010
Just thought you would enjoy this pic. This is an older picture (2008 or so), shot by my ex-boyfriend, from a house we lived in that was never sprayed with chemical insecticides. We didn’t believe in them, and luckily neither did our landlady, so we had a menagerie of critters. No real bug problems though–they left us alone and stayed outside for the most part. We had a family of these under the house as well as a family of tarantulas. I had never heard of them prior to seeing this one, and we originally thought it was a snake. Impressive guy! From what I hear they hurt like hell though if they walk across you. We never got much closer than this. Wish I could find another property manager that would leave the land alone. Most people would think I was crazy, but it was fun to have so much rare wildlife right in our back yard.
Laura
Austin, Texas
Giant Red Headed Centipede
Hi Laura,
Thanks for sending us your photo of a Giant Red Headed Centipede, Scolopendra heros, a magnificent creature. Most of our reports are from Texas and Oklahoma.
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