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Sticker of Diamondback soil centipede
Bug card No. 1357 of 4,939

Diamondback soil centipede

Geophilus vittatus
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsCentipedes and millipedesForests and woodsLots of legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The diamondback soil centipede is a long, thin centipede from North America. Down its back runs a dark band of diamond-shaped marks, which gives it its name. It is brown to orange-yellow and has about a hundred legs.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. Insects have six legs, and this cousin has many, many more.
Lives in
North America, under bark and leaves on the forest floor
Length
2.5 to 5.2 cm (0.98 to 2 in)
Top speed
about 2 km/h (1.2 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite

Centipedes are venomous! Read about centipede venom on Venom Wiki ā†’

What does it eat?
Like other centipedes, it hunts tiny animals in the soil and under bark.
For real!Photo of Diamondback soil centipede
Picture by Christina Butler from Georgia, United States. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Diamondback soil centipede about 5.2 cm long (2 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 9 grains of rice in a rowas long as 1.5 toy building bricks in a rowit has about 102 legscould run across a dinner table in 1.8 seconds

How big is Diamondback soil centipede compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Females have 49 to 53 pairs of legs, and males 49 to 51 pairs.

2

It usually hides under loose bark, but sometimes it is found near the sea.

3

Its scary-time slime contains a chemical that had never been found in nature before.

4

Most are 25 to 40 millimetres long, but some grow to 52 millimetres.

you asked

Most asked questions about Diamondback soil centipede

?How many legs does the diamondback soil centipede have?

About a hundred. Females have 49 to 53 pairs and males 49 to 51 pairs.

?Why is it called diamondback?

Because of the dark band of diamond-shaped marks along its back.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Geophilus vittatus
Group
Centipedes and millipedes
Family
Geophilidae
Classification
Chilopoda > Geophilomorpha > Geophilidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Diamondback soil centipede (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Christina Butler from Georgia, United States. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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