Centered around Centipedes

Whats up in the Recent Invertebrates this week? Well, we recently received a shipment of 9 vials from a scientist in Eastern Oklahoma State College, each containing about 1-3 specimens of the arthropod group Chilopoda, or Centipedes. These centipedes from Arkansas are a really important donation to our collection because many species of centipedes from that state also can be found in our state. By having representatives from both, we can compare variation across the habitats and environments.

Vials of some of the centipedes we got. There are about 3 genera and 5 species in the donation, all from Arkansas.

 These neat little (and sometimes really big) arthropods are worm-like predators with one pair of legs per segment of their body. Having only one pair of legs per segment is what separates them from the Diplopoda, or Millipedes. Millipedes are primarily herbivores (they eat plant material) and have two or more pairs of legs per body segment. The millipede's ability to walk in synchrony without stepping on their other legs always fascinated people, and fascinated one person enough to actually write a mathematical paper about how it works. Below is a video of a millipede walking.

 Interesting stuff, but back to centipedes. Centipedes don't have that same walking problem, and because they only have one pair of legs per segment are much faster runners than millipedes. This aids in their predatory lifestyle and ability to run down and catch prey rapidly. The video below is a bit over dramatic, but its still a good example of centipedes catching and eating prey. 

   In the front of their head, they have very large "venom claws" that they use to sting and paralyze their prey. If they bite you (which is very very rare, as in you have to stick your finger in their mouths to get them to bite you), it can inflict a painful sting. However, most of the time these guys are found hiding under rocks, in crevices, and other flat areas for protection (unlike the video...I think they intentionally got the centipede really hungry that it would eat on an exposed leaf like that).
  Inspired to look into our standing collection of Oklahoman centipedes before we got these new specimens, we found this jar containing a centipede that is at least 5 inches long.

Specimen from our collection, collected from Latimer Co., Oklahoma in 1933! Picture by Laura Sohl Smith

  Unfortunately the specimen is dried out and in an olive jar (we'll take care of it soon, and put it into a new jar), but you can see how large it is next to my hand. The label inside the jar says Scolopendra magna, and it was collected in 1933 from Latimer Co., Oklahoma. I'm not sure if the species name is correct, but this old guy is definitely in that genus because most members of this group are very large. Most centipedes you find around here are not nearly that big, don't worry! For more information about this large genus, though, check out this page in Bugguide.net.
   So we have some neat centipedes now in our collection: some new ones from Arkansas that are at least 5 different genera and species, and lots of ones already in our collection that are old, big, and small from all over the world and our own back yard here in Oklahoma. Have a great week!