House Centipede - Scutigera coleoptrata
Body often with narrow stripes from head to tail. Eight body segments with 15 pairs of long thin legs. Legs become longer toward the tail end. Large eyes and long antennae. Up to 5 cm long. House centipedes can be distinguished from other centipedes by having their legs long and with the first part of the leg (nearest the body) pointing upwards and the next part of the leg pointing downwards. This gives them an arched appearance. Usually the "knee" joints are white.
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In its native environment it may be found under rocks or logs, and also inside houses.
All year round.
House Centipedes are fast-moving hunters, using their long legs to catch insects and spiders before killing them with venom.
A non-native that comes into Britain with produce from time to time. Many instances may go unrecorded so frequency of these occurrences is difficult to determine.
Rarely recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland.
Gavin Gamble
Houlditch Road
11 July 2020
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Species profile
- Common names
- House Centipede
- Species group:
- Centipedes & Millipedes
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
- Order:
- Scutigeromorpha
- Family:
- Scutigeridae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 1
- First record:
- 11/07/2020 (Gamble, Gavin)
- Last record:
- 11/07/2020 (Gamble, Gavin)
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