![]() Accordingly, they are found in soil and leaf litter, under stones and dead wood, and inside logs. Within these habitats, centipedes require a moist microhabitat because they lack the waxy cuticle of insects and arachnids, therefore causing them to rapidly lose water. They are found in an array of terrestrial habitats from tropical rainforests to deserts. Centipedes have a wide geographical range, even reaching beyond the Arctic Circle. Worldwide, an estimated 8,000 species of centipedes are thought to exist, of which 3,000 have been described. Cavernicolous (cave-dwelling) and subterranean species may lack pigmentation, while many tropical scolopendromorphs have bright aposematic colors. They normally have a drab coloration combining shades of brown and red. ![]() Their size can range from a few millimetres in the smaller lithobiomorphs and geophilomorphs to about 30 cm (12 in) in the largest scolopendromorphs.Ĭentipedes can be found in a wide variety of environments. Like spiders and scorpions, centipedes are predominantly carnivorous. Centipedes always have an odd number of pairs of legs no centipede has exactly 100 legs. ![]() Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs, ranging from 30 to 382. All centipedes are venomous and can inflict painful bites, injecting their venom through pincer-like appendages known as forcipules. Centipedes are elongated segmented ( metameric) creatures with one pair of legs per body segment. Centipedes (from the New Latin prefix centi-, "hundred", and the Latin word pes, pedis, " foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda ( Ancient Greek χεῖλος, kheilos, lip, and New Latin suffix -poda, "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an arthropod group which also includes millipedes and other multi-legged creatures. ![]()
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