Tuesday 22 November 2011

Centipede on a walkabout

It is long, I counted 76 pairs of legs! My young daughter spotted this centipede, Stigmatogaster subterranea, walking on a stone wall out in the open. This is the first time I see this behaviour in this otherwise soil and leaf-litter living centipede. When disturbed, it had no trouble walking backwards, which had me puzzled for a bit, as I confused the tail and the head end!
The centipede lifted its head as if sniffing...
 ...and finally disappeared in the leaf litter.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a long one! Love the photo with the autumn leaves.

Africa Gomez said...

Thank you, nobonesaboutit, I wasn't sure which one to put at the top, the long one is not as sharp as I would like.

RayHolden said...

"subterraneus" ? :)

Fine pictures!

Oddly enough I saw one walking along the top of an old brick garden wall just 4 weeks ago. It made for quite a sight. Impressive beast!

Ray

Africa Gomez said...

Thank you Ray. Curious isn't it? Maybe they disperse at this time of year? It is hard to find information on the behaviour of these beasties.