Earth centipede
The earth centipede is a long, thin centipede that lives in the soil. It has lots and lots of legs, but the number changes from place to place. Earth centipedes living in the south have more legs than those in the north.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It can have anywhere from 41 to 69 pairs of legs, depending on where it lives.
In northern Europe it has as few as 41 pairs, while in the Middle East it can have 69 pairs.
There is a short form that grows up to 5 centimetres and a long form that can reach 7 centimetres.
On the Greek islands, each island can have earth centipedes with a different number of legs.
It lives in many faraway places, from the shores of the White Sea to the Canary Islands and Easter Island.
Most asked questions about Earth centipede
?How many legs does the earth centipede have?
It depends on where it lives. It can have from 41 to 69 pairs of legs, so more than 80 legs.
?How big is the earth centipede?
It can grow up to about 5 to 7 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Pachymerium ferrugineum
- Group
- Centipedes and millipedes
- Family
- Geophilidae
- Classification
- Chilopoda > Geophilomorpha > Geophilidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Pachymerium ferrugineum (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 AfroBrazilian. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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