Centipedes’ bodies are made up of many segments, each with one pair of legs. Although the word ‘centipede’ means 100 feet, some of these meat-eating creatures can have as little as 15 pairs of legs, or as many as 177 pairs.
Soil centipedes (order Geophilomorpha) are burrowers that dig by alternately expanding and contracting the body, in the manner of earthworms. The order Scolopendrida, or Scolopendromorpha, of the tropics contains the largest centipedes, with Scolopendra gigantea of the American tropics reaching a length of 280 mm (11 inches). These forms are capable of inflicting severe bites. Scolopendrids, as well as the geophilids, have relatively slow and sinuous movements.
The little stone centipedes (order Lithobiomorpha) are short-bodied. They, like the house centipedes, run with the body held straight and are the fastest moving centipedes.
There are nearly 3,000 known species. Centipedes are often grouped with the millipedes (class Diplopoda) and some other minor groups into the superclass Myriopoda.
Credit : Britannica
Picture Credit : Google
