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Sticker of Shorter red centipede
Bug card No. 3827 of 4,939

Shorter red centipede

Strigamia acuminata
Name means: “acuminata means pointed or sharp”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsCentipedes and millipedesForests and woodsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The shorter red centipede is a thin, red-brown centipede that lives in the soil of woods. It has lots of short legs and wriggles through the ground like a little worm. It can grow up to 4 centimetres long.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. Insects have six legs, and this cousin has many, many more.
Lives in
Western and central Europe, including Ireland, England and Wales, and also Canada
Top speed
about 1.5 km/h (0.93 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless

Centipedes are venomous! Read about centipede venom on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
Like all centipedes, it is a hunter and catches tiny animals in the soil.
For real!Photo of Shorter red centipede
Picture by Jon Mortin. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Females have more legs than males: males have 37 to 41 pairs, females 39 to 43 pairs.

2

In England it is common in Leicestershire and Rutland.

3

It has also been found as far away as Canada.

you asked

Most asked questions about Shorter red centipede

?How many legs does the shorter red centipede have?

Males have 37 to 41 pairs of legs and females 39 to 43 pairs, so around 80 legs.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Strigamia acuminata
Group
Centipedes and millipedes
Family
Geophilidae
Classification
Chilopoda > Geophilomorpha > Geophilidae
Lives on
Europe, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Strigamia acuminata (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 Jon Mortin. CC BY 4.0, 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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