Giant Desert Centipede Scolopendra heros

Giant Desert Centipede
Scolopendra heros

The first thing this centipede did after being placed in the terrarium was explore every square inch of the enclosure. At the lower levels only, though. This centipede is unable to negotiate smooth vertical glass, which is a blessing. The top of the enclosure can generally be left ajar while caring for its other inhabitants without worrying that the centipede will slip out unnoticed. Sometimes, though, this guy climbs to the top of the driftwood stump in the enclosure, and is able to reach the screen-covered lid, which it may explore for hours.

This centipede moves very fast. You might think that a creature with more than 40 legs would be clumsy. But they don't hold this centipede down. It zips around the enclosure at a rapid pace.

The centipede's body is divided into 21 flat segments. Three of these are colored a caramel brown and are right behind the head. The other eighteen segments are black. The legs on the trunk, the antennae on the head, and the tips of the legs on the last segment of the body are colored a medium dark yellow.

Notice that each leg is tipped with a sharp claw. Some sources report that these claws damage unprotected skin, and poison glands are located at the junction of each leg with the body. When the centipede travels over your skin, the claw may penetrate your skin, and poison may be deposited in the cut, producing local inflammation. Of course, I have not tested this hypothesis...

Centipedes are common in central Texas, where they prefer to live outdoors in damp places, under leaves and stones. They are members of the phylum Arthropoda (they have articulating, jointed legs) and the class Chilopoda (from the Greek, cheilos, meaning "lip" and pous, meaning "foot"). Their jaws, which are connected to venom glands, are used to kill prey. If handled, they are capable of injecting venom, so caution is advised.

If you are pestered by centipedes, inside or outside your home, the first step is to determine why they are there. Next, become informed on least toxic or non-toxic methods available to eliminate them from your home and yard. Those methods should include identifying and correcting conditions conducive to the breeding and congregation of these organisms.

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Two species of centipedes are found in central Texas. One, the house centipede, Scutigera coleoptrata (Linnaeus), originally from Mexico, now is found all over the U.S. It has a worm-like body an inch or so long, a pair of long antennae, and fifteen pairs of long legs along the sides of its body. In the female, the last pair of legs is more than twice the length of its body. The body itself is gray/yellow, and marked with three dark, lengthwise stripes. Its jaws are relatively weak, so it bites humans with difficulty. The effects of its bite is reportedly similar to that of a bee, but is not considered dangerous. The house centipede may even be beneficial, as its prey includes cockroaches, silverfish, and flies. It has compound eyes that apparently assist it in hunting.

The giant desert centipede, Scolopendra heros, is the subject of this article and is found throughout the southern U.S., particularly in desert regions, and is described in the literature as reaching a maximum length of six inches (15 centimeters). However, specimens collected in Texas have measured more than this, as the one featured in this report confirms. This species of centipede has powerful jaws--actually modified front legs--and its venom is known to produce significant pain and swelling; this guy should, therefore, be considered at least nominally dangerous. It has simple eyes that it rarely uses, that probably provide no assistance in hunting, and that are not necessary for the animal to respond to light. When the eyes are covered with opaque paint, no difference is noted in its immediate negative response to bright light stimulus.

The sturdy fellow shown in these pages, a specimen of S. heros, was kindly collected for me by a friend whose home is on the shores of a large lake near Temple, Texas. That home is pestered by centipedes, and I studied this specimen for several months to learn more about its habits. It grew to 8 inches in length within the first few months, feeding on crickets supplied by a local pet store. It died, apparently from natural causes, eight months into the study.

The photo in the upper left of this page was taken shortly after the centipede was introduced to his or her new home (the sex was never determined). That new home was a terrarium in the EntomoBiotics lab in Round Rock, containing a floor of coarse bark chips, a large, flat, sunning rock, a hollow driftwood log, and a small pool of drinking and bathing water. Four snakes occupied the same enclosure, and they all seemed- at first- to get along fine. A second centipede was introduced several weeks later, but was soon killed and partially eaten by another inhabitant of the enclosure (parts of the centipede's body were found in one corner of the enclosure). I suspect the first centipede was the culprit. Later, this same centipede killed three of the snakes in quick succession.