Megarian Banded Centipede

• defensaIt is one of the largest centipedes in Europe, and its bite, though painful, is rarely a serious risk to a healthy adult.
• Its forcipules are not jaws: they are the first pair of legs turned into venomous fangs, a feature unique to centipedes.
• The female coils around the eggs and guards and cleans them for weeks without feeding, remarkable parental care for a soil arthropod.
• It is the largest centipede in Europe and the most common in the Mediterranean, including the Iberian Peninsula.
• Its bite is very painful — comparable to several wasp stings at once — and causes swelling and redness for hours, but it is not dangerous except in the case of an allergic reaction.
• It has 21 pairs of legs, and the last pair is elongated, trailing backwards, and works as false antennae, confusing predators as to which end is the head.
• It hunts with its forcipules — venomous claws that are its modified first pair of legs, not jaws.
• The female coils her body around the clutch and guards and cleans it for weeks, without eating, to keep fungi from destroying it.
• It is a useful predator in vegetable plots and gardens: it eats insects, spiders and slugs.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (myriapod)

Habitat & environment

Under stones and logs in Mediterranean scrub and woodland

Sources consulted: Fauna Ibérica; Bonato et al., revisiones de Chilopoda; Asociación Española de Entomología