gargantuan centipede can be receive in several habitats across the earth , but none are as impressive asScolopendra gigantea , also known as the Amazonian giant . It ’s the largestcentipedespecies in the world , stretching to over 30 centimeter ( 12 inches ) in distance , and has an appetite to rival .
Armed with a powerful spitefulness , these giant centipede have evolved to become bat - track down specialists . Their skills were adumbrate in a2005 paperthat revealedS. giganteawas predating three bat species in Venezuela : Mormoops megalophylla , Pteronotus davyi , andLeptonycteris curasoae .
Even as the largest centipede in the world , the feat is an telling one . squash racket are tight - moving fair game that forS. gigantearepresent a meal that ’s considerably bigger than themselves , but they ’ve evolved two killer tactic for taking them down .
Like mine spiders, the largest centipedes on Earth love a good cave.Image credit: mllawing viaiNaturalist,CC BY-NC 4.0
Likemine wanderer , giant centipede love a cave , andS. giganteais fond to skitter up cave bulwark and ceilings to reach perching bat . imposingly , they can even catch flying bat mid - air by hang from the cave ceiling and grabbing unlucky dupe that flap within cooking stove .
The 2nd skill that arrive at them school bat assassins is that they ’re able to curb liberal prey thanks to powerful maliciousness . Centipedes splendidly have a pair of peg for each consistence section , but the first pair on the cranial segment aremodified into a tweezer - like toolsknown as forcipules or “ poison claws ” , which they use to inject quarry with venom , such as fly bat .
detail of gargantuan centipede depredation issue on squash racquet paint a word-painting of the ghastly fate that awaits their prey .
“ On 17 January 2025 , at 21:45 henry , we feel aS. giganteaperching from the ceiling of [ a cave ] entrance , while feeding on a deadM. megalophylla , ” explain the authors of the 2005 paper . The jumbo centipede was “ attached to the cap with only the last five pairs of peg , held the bat using its first eight pairs of ramification ( shut the forcipules , or poisonous substance nipper ) , and fed while it move its capitulum from side to side . ”
you may see a photo of the telling maneuverhere .
“ The centipede begin eating around the bat ’s neck , proceed into the chest , and then into the abdominal part . When we garner the two specimen , the centipede had devoured about 35 % of the bat ’s trunk deal . ”
intelligibly , jumbo centipedes are a formidable threat to bats , snakes , and other small vertebrates , but what about man ? Do we have anything to fear from the world ’s magnanimous centipede ?
The short answer is yes , but probably not destruction . Centipede bite can cause pain in the neck , swelling , tissue dying , and infections that are considered clinically pregnant in humans . However , they ’re unconvincing to be black unless you develop asecondary infectionoranaphylaxis .
The potency of scolopendromorph centipede venom was the focus of a2021 studythat revealed it contains weaponry in the form of toxic protein borrowed from bacteria and fungi . This sort of interspecies trading occurs through a phenomenon coined “ horizontal cistron transfer , ” and it facilitate the movement of genetic material between distantly related organisms .
The discovery marked “ the orotund , most diversely source contribution of horizontal cistron transportation to the evolution of animate being spite typography jazz to day of the month , ” explained co - author Dr Ronald Jenner from the Natural History Museum , London , to IFLScience .
So , if you ’re ever favourable enough to see the humans ’s with child centipede in the flesh , we ’d recommend keeping to a respectful aloofness . Your curious index finger is no mate for the poisonous substance pincer of giant centipede .
