House Centipede hunts, kills

A Lesser Maple Spanworm, Macaria pustularia, as seen from below. Moths sometimes alight on my front door windows, allowing for shots like this. I have a hard enough time identifying many moths from above, let alone an angle like this, so after making some shots I go around to the outside of the front door to see what I just shot.

When I did so, I was interested to see a very cool many-legged arthropod on the hunt, and paused to watch it and make some photos...

As always, click the photo to enlarge

A House Centipede, Scutigera coleoptrata, taking a momentary rest on the white paintwork around my front door. It had entered the sphere of the night lights to hunt the various tiny insects that come in after dark. When seen well and with good light - as my trusty Canon twin-lite flashes provided - the colors on this centipede are quite showy. The animal has a subtle golden-orange cast to the body, but check those legs out! They are marked with gorgeous violet bands that become more prominent rearward (the animal's head is at the top).

House Centipedes are not native here in North America, or many other places in the world. It's indigenous to the Mediterranean region, but has been accidentally spread across much of the globe. These centipedes are adept at slipping into the tiniest of cracks, and thus can easily be carried as incidentals in all manner of products being shipped far and wide. They've been present in the eastern U.S. since at least the late 1800's, and are probably in your house.

Watching the animal hunt was interesting. It didn't race about at breakneck speed - and these leggy critters can be very speedy if they so choose - but moved at a leisurely pace, feeling about with its greatly elongate antennae. It finally encountered a tiny caddisfly and instantly seized it in its maxillipedes - those pincher-like claws extending forward from the sides of the head. Venom glands are imbedded at the base of the maxillipedes, and when a centipede bites prey, it quickly injects venom to disable victims. It then commences to gobble up the prey, as this one is doing.

House Centipedes are not large enough to inflict a bite on a person, as far as I know. But some very large species certainly can, especially some of the tropical species. There are a few fairly large centipede species that occur in southern Ohio and points south that I would not handle carelessly, as they look large enough to penetrate skin and inflict an unpleasant bite.

But, spooky/creepy as House Centipedes are to many people, you've got nothing to fear.

A brief essay on the House Centipede

The Columbus Dispatch

House centipedes creepy but cool

 

Sunday December 16, 2012

NATURE

Jim McCormac
 

You and your family aren’t the only animals in your house. Many other critters lurk in the hidden nooks and crannies of your dwelling. These creepy-crawlies are often out of sight and out of mind, but every now and then, one bursts forth in spectacular fashion to remind us we share quarters with some undesirable “camp followers.”

 

As humans have marched about the globe, we’ve unwittingly carted along all manner of hangers-on — creatures that are so adapted to Homo sapiens that they rarely, if ever, live out of our fold.

Depending on your inclinations, one of the coolest or creepiest of these unwanted domestics is the house centipede ( Scutigera coleoptrata). If one of these many-legged arthropods scuttles out of the woodwork, it is sure to be noticed. Its creep factor is enormous. House centipedes don’t walk or run as much as they glide, sort of like a spooky undulating feather magically levitating across the wall. They aren’t tiny, either — a magnificent specimen can stretch the tape to 2 inches. That is big enough to elicit shrieks of terror.

Fortunately, house centipedes usually do their wandering under cover of darkness, and thus seldom clue in homeowners to their presence. If you’re really curious, drop down to the basement with a flashlight and start probing the dark recesses of crawl spaces and junky corners. You’ve got a good chance of unearthing a house centipede.

Centipedes are predators and adept at running down and slaying prey. When on the hunt, the centipede constantly tests the road ahead with its sensitive antennae. When a victim is sensed, the many-legged monster pounces and injects potent venom via a set of modified legs. If there is an upside to this horror show, it is the fact that the centipede is generally offing other undesirables such as ants, bedbugs, spiders, silverfish and cockroaches. If we continue with an optimistic outlook, we can also be glad that house centipedes aren’t 4 feet long and eyeing us hungrily.

House centipedes originally hailed from the Mediterranean region but hopped into people’s baggage long ago. They’re good travelers and now occur throughout much of the world, although almost always close to people. While these centipedes can flourish outdoors, they aren’t particularly cold-tolerant, and autumn’s chill drives them back indoors with us.

That soft tickle across your cheek that snaps you from sleepy reverie in the wee hours? You don’t want to know.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first and third Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac. blogspot.com.
 

House Centipede

Not long ago, I was at my desk in my office when a shadowy movement flickered through the corner of my eye. I glanced over to see this wraithlike leggy arthropod shimmer up the wall at lightning speed. Rather than disappear into a crevice or cranny as they so often do, it paused. My lucky day! With camera at hand, I was able to get some shots.

House Centipedes, Scutigera coleoptrata, are the House Sparrows of the Arthropod world. They are native only to the Mediterranean, but have been spread far and wide across the globe. Like the sparrow, they are not often found far from human dwellings, at least in this neck of the woods. They were first found in the States in 1849, and have since colonized much of the continent.

Kind of hard to tell which end is which, eh? The term for that - head looking like tail - is automimicry, and the idea is to fool predators into snapping at the wrong end. The centipede's head is at the bottom in the above photo. Fooled me - took the Sentimental Sapsucker to set me right! (see comments)

Check those legs - 15 pairs! All those feet make for a real speed demon, and House Centipedes can allegedly cover an astonishing 16 inches in a second. Anyone who has ever seen one at full gallop would probably believe that claim.

Unlike millipedes, which have far more legs, albeit stubbier ones, centipedes are predators. They use their tremendous speed to run down, capture and kill lesser critters such as spiders and small insects. I HAD a very nice pair of House Spiders, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, and their web by the window where I saw this leggy killer. Note: HAD. I think I know what became of them. So, what do you fear the most? Spiders, or horrifying speed demons that look like a ghostly feather and startle the bejeezus out of you when they dash across the wall? At least the legged feather kills and eats the spiders!

The biting parts are armed with venom glands. Not to fear - it's mouth parts are too small to penetrate our skin, but spiders are not so lucky.

Chances are good that some of these fascinating creatures reside in YOUR dwelling. They're generally nocturnal and prone to lurking in humid climes, which typically relegates them to the basement. And if you are like most people, chances are you're more afraid of spiders than centipedes, so it might be best to just let 'em be. They'll be hard at work when you are sleeping, scuttling about spider-hunting.

Plus, let it be known that House Centipedes have incredible longevity. If all goes well, one can last for seven years. Thoughtlessly crush one, and you've just made paste of an animal that can outlive most songbirds. Better to allow them to guard the basement, serving as efficient spider sentinels.