Red-headed centipede
The red-headed centipede usually has a bright red head and a brown striped body with lots of legs. It hunts at night and is very fast. It now lives in warm places on almost every continent.
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Fun facts
It probably travelled around the world hidden on ships, because ships are warm and damp like the places it likes.
Its colours change from place to place. In parts of Thailand it has a black head instead of a red one.
Its last pair of legs is extra thick, which helps tell it apart from other big centipedes.
Scientists gave it more than 50 different names by mistake, because it looks so different in different countries.
Most asked questions about Red-headed centipede
?How big is the red-headed centipede?
It grows to about 10 to 13 centimetres long.
?Where does the red-headed centipede live?
In warm places on almost every continent, hiding under leaves, bark and stones.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Scolopendra morsitans
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Centipedes and millipedes
- Family
- Scolopendridae
- Classification
- Chilopoda > Scolopendromorpha > Scolopendridae
- Lives on
- Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania, North America, South America
- Also known as
- Tanzanian blue ringleg
Where the facts come from
- Scolopendra morsitans (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 Jackson Nugent. CC BY 2.0, 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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