Bug card No. 0239 of 1,500
Caribbean giant centipede
Scolopendra alternans
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsCentipedes and millipedesRainforests and junglesNot an insect, but a bug cousin
The Caribbean giant centipede is a big, long centipede that can be brown, red or even yellow and orange. It lives on warm islands and coasts around the Caribbean Sea.
Fun fact: this one is not an insect. Insects have six legs, and this cousin has many, many more.
Lives in
The Caribbean, northern South America and Florida
Length
17 to 19 cm (6.7 to 7.5 in)
What does it eat?
Like other giant centipedes, it hunts insects and other small animals.
How big is it?
How long is it?
🧱as long as 6 toy building bricks in a row✋about as long as your hand🍽️could run across a dinner table in 0.9 seconds
How big is Caribbean giant centipede compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Caribbean giant centipede about 3.8 km/h (2.4 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It can grow 17 to 19 centimetres long, longer than a pencil.
2
Its colour and shape change a lot depending on where it lives.
3
Once a rare little snake tried to swallow one. Both of them died, and the story was in the news.
4
It has been found as far north as Georgia in the United States.
you asked
Most asked questions about Caribbean giant centipede
?How big is the Caribbean giant centipede?
It can reach 17 to 19 centimetres long.
?Where does the Caribbean giant centipede live?
On Caribbean islands, in northern South America and in Florida.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Scolopendra alternans
- Group
- Centipedes and millipedes
- Family
- Scolopendridae
- Classification
- Chilopoda > Scolopendromorpha > Scolopendridae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Haitian giant centipede, Florida Keys centipede
Where the facts come from
- Scolopendra alternans (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by (c) Paul Prior, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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