Amazonian giant centipede
The Amazonian giant centipede is the biggest centipede in the world. It can grow longer than a school ruler, more than 30 centimetres. It has a long, flat body made of many parts, with a pair of legs on each one.
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Fun facts
It can climb up cave ceilings and catch bats in flight, holding on with only a few of its legs.
Its body has 21 or 23 parts.
In the daytime it hides in dark, damp places under leaves, rocks, logs or tree bark.
Most asked questions about Amazonian giant centipede
?How big is the Amazonian giant centipede?
It is the biggest centipede in the world and can be more than 30 centimetres long.
?What does a giant centipede eat?
Almost anything it can catch, from insects and spiders to frogs, mice and bats.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Scolopendra gigantea
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Centipedes and millipedes
- Family
- Scolopendridae
- Classification
- Chilopoda > Scolopendromorpha > Scolopendridae
- Lives on
- South America
- Also known as
- Peruvian giant yellow-leg centipede
Where the facts come from
- Scolopendra gigantea (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 Katka Nemčoková. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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