Bug Wiki
Bug Wiki / All bugs / Centipedes and millipedes
Sticker of New Zealand giant centipede
Bug card No. 0957 of 1,500

New Zealand giant centipede

Cormocephalus rubriceps
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsCentipedes and millipedesForests and woodsLots of legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The New Zealand giant centipede is a long, fast creature with lots of legs. Its head is reddish brown, its body is olive brown, and its legs turn green at the tips. In New Zealand it can grow longer than a pencil.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. Insects have six legs, and this cousin has many, many more.
Lives in
New Zealand's North Island and parts of Australia, in damp rotting logs and leaf litter
Length
20 cm (7.9 in)
in New Zealand; Australian ones stay much smaller
Top speed
about 3.9 km/h (2.4 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting

Watch out! Read all about it on Venom Wiki โ†’

What does it eat?
It hunts crickets, wฤ“tฤ, spiders, moths and other centipedes. It may even catch small lizards.
For real!Photo of New Zealand giant centipede
Picture by Shaun Lee. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

New Zealand giant centipede about 20 cm long (7.9 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)A house cat about 50 cm (20 in)
as long as 6 toy building bricks in a rowas long as 1 bananas end to endit has about 42 legscould run across a dinner table in 0.9 seconds

How big is New Zealand giant centipede compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The Mฤori name for it is hura.

2

On one small island there are so many of them that scientists put tinfoil around their sleeping bags, so they would hear one coming.

3

It can lift up its back end and grab passing food with its back legs.

4

Rats and hedgehogs brought to New Zealand eat it, so it is most common on islands where those animals do not live.

5

Mother centipedes look after and guard their babies.

you asked

Most asked questions about New Zealand giant centipede

?How big is the New Zealand giant centipede?

In New Zealand it can be more than 20 centimetres long. In Australia it stays much smaller.

?What does a giant centipede eat?

Insects like crickets and wฤ“tฤ, spiders, other centipedes and sometimes small lizards.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Cormocephalus rubriceps
Named by
Newport, 1843
Group
Centipedes and millipedes
Family
Scolopendridae
Classification
Chilopoda > Scolopendromorpha > Scolopendridae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Hura, Giant centipede

Where the facts come from

  1. Cormocephalus rubriceps (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Shaun Lee. 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.

More from the same group: Centipedes and millipedes

Giant African millipedeCentipedes and millipedesHouse centipedeCentipedes and millipedesAmazonian giant centipedeCentipedes and millipedesVietnamese centipedeCentipedes and millipedesGiant desert centipedeCentipedes and millipedesGreenhouse millipedeCentipedes and millipedes

Also at home here: Forests and woods

Giant earwigOther insectsOak processionaryMothsGolden silk orb-weaverSpidersFlorida woods cockroachCockroaches and termitesEastern eyed click beetleBeetlesRoman snailSnails, slugs and worms