White-striped centipede
The white-striped centipede is a long, thin centipede that lives in the soil. It is grey with an orange-yellow head and tail end. A white line runs all along its back, which gives it its name.
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Fun facts
It has between 57 and 87 pairs of legs. Males usually have fewer legs than females.
The white line on its back is a blood vessel that you can see through its skin.
In the daytime it hides under logs and stones, often rolled up into a ball.
If something attacks it, it can make a sticky liquid from the underside of its body.
It likes towns and farm fields, and in Britain it is often found around London.
Most asked questions about White-striped centipede
?How many legs does the white-striped centipede have?
Between 57 and 87 pairs, so well over a hundred legs.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Henia vesuviana
- Group
- Centipedes and millipedes
- Family
- Dignathodontidae
- Classification
- Chilopoda > Geophilomorpha > Dignathodontidae
- Lives on
- Europe
Where the facts come from
- Henia vesuviana (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 Jörg Spelda. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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