Of course Australia has venomous giant centipedes
Bec Crew
Bec Crew
Australia doesn’t do things by halves, so if it’s going to have centipedes, it’s gonna have big ones – ones up to 20cm long!
The Australian giant centipede (Ethmostigmus rubripes) is found across mainland Australia and North East Tasmania. Also found in New Guinea, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and parts of Southeast Asia, this colossal insect is highly adaptable. Depending on where in the world these centipedes are found, they can be bright orange, reddish-brown, dark brown or black.
While not the largest centipede in the world – that honour goes to South America’s Scolopendra gigantea that can grow to more than 30cm – the Australian giant centipede is no slouch.
It lurks in the dark, under logs or rocks, among the leaf litter and soil, waiting for nightfall. Sensing the movement of nearby prey, the giant centipede closes in. Prey can be anything from spiders, worms and cockroaches to small frogs, lizards and even a mouse.
A solitary ambush predator, the giant centipede will run down its prey on 40-odd legs and pounce. It will grab its prey with its ‘venom claws’ – a pair of fang-like legs under the centipede’s head – and inject it with a powerful venom.
The venom isn’t strong enough to kill a person (that we know of). No human deaths from an E. rubripes bite have been recorded, but there is a recent case of a young girl in the Philippines who died after being bitten by a closely related species of centipede, so you can never be too careful. According to some unlucky victims, the giant centipede can inflict excruciating pain that lasts for days. Others compare it to a wasp or a bee sting.
Giant centipedes aren’t just silent hunters – they contain multitudes, including some surprisingly tender maternal instincts. After laying clutches of as many as 40 eggs, the females will curl around them like a dragon protecting its hoard. Even after the babies hatch, the mother centipede will remain coiled around them for weeks, protecting them from predators until they are old enough to hunt for themselves.
If you’re looking for something a bit less… intimidating, Australia has plenty of amazing centipede species that are not so sizeable. There’s Cormocephalus aurantiipes, also known as the orange-footed centipede, which can grow to a slightly less frightening length of 14 cm. And there’s Rhysida nuda, a gorgeous little endemic species with iridescent blue legs.
Then there’s Allothereua maculate, the house centipede, which… okay, is also very intimidating, because look at that thing. Why are its legs so spindly? House centipedes are actually awesome — if one takes up residence in your house, it will take care of lots of other insects for you. You’ll just have to get past the fact that, again, they look like this!
