Scolopendra gigantea, Peruvian giant centipede tinyfi

Scolopendra gigantea, Peruvian giant centipede is one of the largest species of centipedes in the world. It has reliably obtained 9-10"/22-25cm body length and reputably achieved 12-14"/30-35cm! As the name implies, this centipede can be found in Peru and in other parts of the Amazon. Heavy restrictions on the invertebrate trade from most/all of the countries of origin of the beautiful species ensure that they remain rare in USA collections... but when you can find one to view they are simply amazing! This centipede is at least 9"/22cm long in the body. If you count its antenna and long hind legs this centipede can stretch an amazing 14"/36cm! A fellow local bughead was kind enough to let me play with his gigantea, which is very fortunate for me as i will likely never be able to afford the $300+ (USD2007) that this specimen would go for on the open USA market. The bite of this species is likely very unpleasant, but in no way deadly to humans. There is not a lot written about centipede envenomations and even less about envenomations by this pracking huge species. I was very tempted to test this venom on myself... but the large unknown factor and the fact i drove myself to the Bugfair where i handled this pede convinced me that discretion is probably the better part of valor... for now! n.b. there is some confusion in the hobby world about just what exactly to call this species, scientifically. For a while there were VERY large centipedes from South America being sold variously as Scolopendra gigantea, S. robusta, or S. gigantea robusta. Officially the trinomial S. gigantea robusta has been busted (heh, boy its so late for me right now, it is early... can you tell?) by the noted myriapodologist Rowland Shelley. Officially S. robusta are a similar looking, though much smaller (though still largeish in the grand scheme) species from Mexico and S. gigantea are a HUGE centipedes from the Amazon... so i *think* this is S. gigantea, even though it was sold to its current owner as S. robusta. [THIS MOVIE WAS UPLOADED FROM A 5MB WMV FILE]

Channel: Pets & Animals
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: cacoseraph

Length: 04:58
Rating: 4.4
Views: 27933

Tags: Scolopendra gigantea Peruvian giant centipede robusta bugfair LA Natural history museum

Video Comments

xirlux (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

ew ur fucking touching that

sheldrake1111 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@cacoseraph The question from kakshilecopieur was in French and was "why is it not biting you? I heard that these things were voracious"

blackvolcano (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Hello! I would like to know something: how can you tame a centipede?? I used to have one and he was agressive.. Nice video!

jiraiiiya (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Hello there ! How come this beast does not bite you ? It's quite voracious as you said ! Nice to see this animal with a gentle behaviour anyway, it used to freak me out eating everything crossing it's road ! Thanks for the videos !

jlsinner99 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

This made me laugh: "A fellow local bughead was kind enough to let me play with his gigantea"

cacoseraph (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@kakashilecopieur i'm sorry i don't understand what you asked. i speak a little spanish and a tiny bit of portugeuse... but only formal "school" words and phrasing. vorace looks like it might be voracious? a centipede that size probably would eat a large roach a week to month, depending on what temperature you keep it at thanks for watching gracias para mirando!

kakashilecopieur (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

he,pourquoi il te pique pas?on m a dit que c etai vorace ca!!

roflcopter244 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

HOLY SHIT

tomhib01 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

There is also a video of one of those centipedes killing and eating a snake!!!

krappies (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

In Afrikaans it's "oorkruiper", meaning ear-crawler...and the bushmen sleep with their elbows bent, palm covering the ear to keep them out. but nowhere has one ever chewed into the brain of a person. they surely caused death, but not by eating your brains. worms lives in us all the time, in school we learnt that they breed in your lungs and does end up in other parts of your body, like your liver, which is quite common in animals.

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Scolopendra gigantea, Peruvian giant centipede tinyfi

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