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All centipedes are venomous and can inflict painful stings, injecting their venom through pincer-like appendages known as forcipules or toxicognaths, which are actually modified legs instead of fangs. Despite the name, no species of centipede has exactly 100 legs; the number of pairs of legs is an odd number that ranges from 15 pairs to 191 pairs.
As they grow and mature, like all arthropods they shed and molt away their exoskeleton. Each time they molt they enter a new stage of its life cycle called an instar. Like all Scolopendromorph centipedes, the number of segments they possess remains the same throughout their life. S. heros is a slow-growing species capable of living over a ...
With their long, segmented bodies and dozens of legs, they’re not exactly cute and cuddly. But what if Centipedes are one of the most common household pests and one of the most feared.
A centipede bite is an injury resulting from the action of a centipede's forcipules, stinger-like appendages that pierce the skin and inject venom into the wound. Such a wound is not strictly speaking a bite, as the forcipules are a modified first pair of legs rather than true mouthparts.
As with many other arthropods, the larvae look like miniature versions of the adult, albeit with fewer legs. Young centipedes have four pairs of legs when they are hatched. They gain a new pair with the first molting, and two pairs with each of their five subsequent moltings. Adults with 15 pairs of legs retain that number through three more ...
Centipedes, in addition to their mouthparts, possess a pair of "poison claws", or forcipules. These, like the maxillipeds of crustaceans, are modified legs and not true mouthparts. [2] The forcipules arise from the first body segment, curving forward and to the midline. The tip is a pointed fang, which has an opening from a venom gland.
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Behavioural studies found that when the centipedes are attacked near their heads, they would counterattack with their forcipules; when being attacked at the rear, they would adopt a warning position, where the last pair of legs (at the rear) would raise to display the prefemoral spines (i.e. prefemoral spines are short, spiky structures on the ...