Tiger centipede
The tiger centipede is a long, fast creature with lots of yellow legs. Each part of its body has a dark stripe, like a tiger. Some of them are even light blue with turquoise legs.
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Fun facts
Its scientific name polymorpha means many forms, because it comes in so many colours.
In Southern California some are pale blue with dark blue stripes and turquoise legs.
During the hot day it hides in cool, damp spots under rocks or in rotting logs.
It is busiest on cool winter nights and during summer rain, and stays underground much of the rest of the year.
Most asked questions about Tiger centipede
?How big is a tiger centipede?
It is usually 10 to 18 centimetres long.
?Where does the tiger centipede live?
In deserts and dry places of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Scolopendra polymorpha
- Named by
- Wood, 1861
- Group
- Centipedes and millipedes
- Family
- Scolopendridae
- Classification
- Chilopoda > Scolopendromorpha > Scolopendridae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Common desert centipede, Banded desert centipede, Sonoran Desert centipede
Where the facts come from
- Scolopendra polymorpha (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 unknown author. 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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