Scutigera coleoptrata!
Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 11:29 AM
Hello Bugman.
Somehow I made it 41 arthropod-loving years without EVER seeing one of these beautiful and amazing creatures. This one scurried under my chair in a local bookstore, Petoskey, Michigan. I quite literally clapped my hands with joy and shouted “OH! Gorgeous!” when I caught it. It has big black eyes that looked at me with curiosity like a praying mantis – and purple knees! I swear to god I thought I had discovered an alien life-form. No one in the store had seen one before, either. If you look at a map, isn’t Petoskey awfully far north for this critter? I was able to identify it from your site, so thanks very much! – but I though you’d like another couple photos to add to your collection. Your website is at the top of my Favorites list. By the way, I let this lovely young house centipede loose in my own basement. May it go forth and multiply.
Lynn E
Petoskey, northern Michigan
Hi Lynn,
Wow, Monday seems so long ago, but we have been overcome with obligations since returning back to the offices of What’s That Bug? and we have also been consumed with the elections. Thanks for your wonderful letter. We get submissions of House Centipedes from around the world, including parts of Canada, so your sighting is not that unusual, but we are thrilled to find out how much pleasure your sighting brought you and also that your House Centipede and its progeny have found a tolerant new home.