Bug card No. 0902 of 1,500
Mediterranean banded centipede
Scolopendra cingulata
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsCentipedes and millipedesForests and woodsNot an insect, but a bug cousin
The Mediterranean banded centipede is a long, fast centipede with stripes of black and golden yellow. It hides under logs and in damp leaves by day. It is the most common big centipede around the Mediterranean Sea.
Fun fact: this one is not an insect. Insects have six legs, and this cousin has many, many more.
Lives in
Southern Europe, around the Mediterranean and Black Sea, and parts of North Africa
Length
15 to 18 cm (5.9 to 7.1 in)
What does it eat?
It attacks almost any animal that is not bigger than itself, like insects and even small lizards.
How big is it?
How long is it?
๐งฑas long as 6 toy building bricks in a rowโabout as long as your hand๐ฝ๏ธcould run across a dinner table in 1 seconds
How big is Mediterranean banded centipede compared to YOU?
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How fast is it?
Mediterranean banded centipede about 3.7 km/h (2.3 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Even at 15 to 18 centimetres long, it is one of the smallest members of its centipede family.
2
It likes to dig and lives in dark, damp places under logs and leaves.
3
Small groups of it still live as far north as Austria and Hungary.
you asked
Most asked questions about Mediterranean banded centipede
?What does the Mediterranean banded centipede eat?
Insects and other small animals, even small lizards.
?How big is the Mediterranean banded centipede?
It is about 15 to 18 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Scolopendra cingulata
- Group
- Centipedes and millipedes
- Family
- Scolopendridae
- Classification
- Chilopoda > Scolopendromorpha > Scolopendridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
- Also known as
- Megarian banded centipede
Where the facts come from
- Scolopendra cingulata (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 ืขืจื ืคืื ืงื. 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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