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Sticker of Waterfall centipede
Bug card No. 1429 of 1,500

Waterfall centipede

Scolopendra cataracta
Name means: “waterfall”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsCentipedes and millipedesPonds, rivers and shoresNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The waterfall centipede is a giant greenish-black centipede with long legs. It is the first centipede ever found that can live both on land and in water. When something scares it, it dives into a stream and swims away.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. Insects have six legs, and this cousin has many, many more.
Lives in
Streams and waterfalls in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam
Length
20 cm (7.9 in)
Top speed
about 3.9 km/h (2.4 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting

Watch out! Read all about it on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
Scientists think it slips into the water at night to hunt small water creatures.
For real!Photo of Waterfall centipede
Picture by Original image: Warut Siriwut, Gregory D. Edgecombe, Chirasak Sutcharit, Piyoros Tongkerd, Somsak Panha; crop by EdChem. CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Waterfall centipede about 20 cm long (7.9 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)A house cat about 50 cm (20 in)
as long as 6 toy building bricks in a rowas long as 1 bananas end to endcould run across a dinner table in 0.9 seconds

How big is Waterfall centipede compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It swims by wiggling its body from side to side, just like an eel.

2

Water rolls right off its body, so it is dry again the moment it climbs out.

3

The first one was found in 2000 near Khao Sok National Park in Thailand.

4

A museum in London had one in its drawers since 1928, but nobody knew it was a new kind.

5

It was only officially described and named in 2016.

you asked

Most asked questions about Waterfall centipede

?Can centipedes swim?

Most cannot, but the waterfall centipede swims like an eel and runs along stream beds.

?How big is the waterfall centipede?

It grows to about 20 centimetres long.

?Where does the waterfall centipede live?

Near streams and waterfalls in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Scolopendra cataracta
Named by
Siriwut, Edgecombe & Panha, 2016
Group
Centipedes and millipedes
Family
Scolopendridae
Classification
Chilopoda > Scolopendromorpha > Scolopendridae
Lives on
Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Scolopendra cataracta (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 Original image: Warut Siriwut, Gregory D. Edgecombe, Chirasak Sutcharit, Piyoros Tongkerd, Somsak Panha; crop by EdChem. CC BY 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.

More from the same group: Centipedes and millipedes

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