Any centipede/arthropod experts here? Bug ID needed *PIC*

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Any centipede/arthropod experts here? Bug ID needed *PIC*

Posted: 7/23/2014 9:43:34 AM EDT

I found this little guy meandering about in my Colorado Springs hotel room restroom. Seemed innocuous enough, but upon looking at the zoomed in picture he looks just like a tiny version of those ones that get huge. Pretty sure this one is of the Scolopendra genus also, judging by the basic morphology. FALSE, Scolopendrids have 21 pairs of legs (i think), this one is of genus Lithobius

That's a solo cup he's at the bottom of. He was about 1 inch long. Any ideas? eta: can anyone ID the species given this pic?

Thanks doc_zox for the ID. Lithobius forficatus, aka the stone centipede or brown centipede, harmless to people and good for eating pests like bedbugs.

Posted: 7/23/2014 9:44:17 AM EDT

[#1]

Centipede.

Edit: Although closer to a decipede.

There are various types.

Posted: 7/23/2014 9:46:05 AM EDT

[#2]

Belongs to the Class Chilopoda.

Posted: 7/23/2014 9:47:28 AM EDT

[#3]

Ceti Eel

Use earplugs with BHPP in them.

Posted: 7/23/2014 9:47:58 AM EDT

[#4]

Every once and a while I'll see one four or five inches long scurrying along sidewalk at my apt. complex. Those things make the hair stand up on the back of my neck. They make a mechanical ratcheting sound when they scamper.

Posted: 7/23/2014 9:48:54 AM EDT

[#5]

I can't see any pics. But the ones we have in Hawai'i are nasty fuckers.

Posted: 7/23/2014 9:49:02 AM EDT

[#6]

It doesn't appair to be on fire...

Why is it not on fire?

Posted: 7/23/2014 9:50:46 AM EDT

[#7]

We have them all over here. I have never had an issue with one, but I don't want to either

Posted: 7/23/2014 9:52:58 AM EDT

[#8]

Possum

Posted: 7/23/2014 10:04:39 AM EDT

[#9]

Definitely a dikfer.

Posted: 7/23/2014 10:08:18 AM EDT

[#10]

A small one can still bite and some very large ones can be deadly.

Posted: 7/23/2014 11:56:48 AM EDT

[#11]

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Quoted:
We have them all over here. I have never had an issue with one, but I don't want to either

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I got bit by one about that size once. Bit my fingertip and I felt the pain in my shoulder. Felt like I grabbed an electric fence. I talked to a guy who got bit by one of the "medically significant" species, he said imagine slamming your hand in a car door for 8-10 hours, and having a high fever at the same time.

Posted: 7/23/2014 12:04:18 PM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:

I got bit by one about that size once. Bit my fingertip and I felt the pain in my shoulder. Felt like I grabbed an electric fence. I talked to a guy who got bit by one of the "medically significant" species, he said imagine slamming your hand in a car door for 8-10 hours, and having a high fever at the same time.

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
We have them all over here. I have never had an issue with one, but I don't want to either

I got bit by one about that size once. Bit my fingertip and I felt the pain in my shoulder. Felt like I grabbed an electric fence. I talked to a guy who got bit by one of the "medically significant" species, he said imagine slamming your hand in a car door for 8-10 hours, and having a high fever at the same time.

I've been bit several times over the course of my life, but I usually just feel an intense burning sensation. Had one crawl into my bed one night and bite me three times (one on my chest, and twice on my back). However, on a camping trip, when I was kid, one of my buddies got bit on the hand, and he told me that he swore that his hand was broken.

Posted: 7/23/2014 12:31:07 PM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:

I've been bit several times over the course of my life, but I usually just feel an intense burning sensation. Had one crawl into my bed one night and bite me three times (one on my chest, and twice on my back). However, on a camping trip, when I was kid, one of my buddies got bit on the hand, and he told me that he swore that his hand was broken.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
We have them all over here. I have never had an issue with one, but I don't want to either

I got bit by one about that size once. Bit my fingertip and I felt the pain in my shoulder. Felt like I grabbed an electric fence. I talked to a guy who got bit by one of the "medically significant" species, he said imagine slamming your hand in a car door for 8-10 hours, and having a high fever at the same time.

I've been bit several times over the course of my life, but I usually just feel an intense burning sensation. Had one crawl into my bed one night and bite me three times (one on my chest, and twice on my back). However, on a camping trip, when I was kid, one of my buddies got bit on the hand, and he told me that he swore that his hand was broken.

Just goes to show that it's true-you never know how your body will react to venom.

Posted: 7/23/2014 12:38:46 PM EDT

[#14]

Whoah!!!

Just as I opened this thread, Centipede by Rebbie Jackson came on iHeart Radio!

FREAKY!

Posted: 7/23/2014 12:56:35 PM EDT

[#15]

Stationed in Puerto Rico and had them at about 6-7 inches long.

Got one in a large over sized coffee can and dropped a frog in with it.

They took opposite sides until the coffee can was jostled.

The bug jumped on the frog and wrapped his legs around it.

It then proceeded to rip the frogs neck out.

Bad ass when they grow up.

Fire is the only solution.

Posted: 7/23/2014 1:10:34 PM EDT

[#16]

stone centipede

http://bugguide.net/node/view/92683/bgpage

Lithobius forficatus

they eat bedbugs

Posted: 7/23/2014 7:50:02 PM EDT

[#17]

Quote History

Quoted:
stone centipede

http://bugguide.net/node/view/92683/bgpage

Lithobius forficatus

they eat bedbugs

View Quote

Awesome, I'll leave them alone then.

I was doing some reading on these guys this evening. Evidently when they're this small, this species has trouble penetrating its fangs into all but the thinnest human skin. The bite produces minor local pain and a welt for about 3 hours, similar to a bee sting, and in those individuals whose bites they were testing, the stone centipede had to be repeatedly agitated to produce a single bite.

Sounds like a useful, harmless little guy. I'll keep em around.

Posted: 7/23/2014 7:58:23 PM EDT

[#18]

You should've unloaded your g22 at it

Posted: 7/23/2014 8:00:37 PM EDT

[#19]

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You should've unloaded your g22 at it

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that dude is FOS

Posted: 7/23/2014 8:02:40 PM EDT

[#20]

I dunno, but when I was in Haiti I sat down to have a smoke one day and saw one of these motherfuckin things crawling on my leg up around the cargo pocket area..
I think that was the fastest I ever jumped up in my life.. m4 buttstock smash followed soon afterward.
fuck centipedes
and fuck haiti while I'm at it

Posted: 7/23/2014 8:09:38 PM EDT

[#21]

^ That looks a lot like the one I saw at a rest stop in Bowie, TX a few years ago, except its head was yellow and it was about a foot long. Scared the everloving shitsky out of me.

Posted: 7/23/2014 8:20:09 PM EDT

[#22]

Quote History

Quoted:
I dunno, but when I was in Haiti I sat down to have a smoke one day and saw one of these motherfuckin things crawling on my leg up around the cargo pocket area..
I think that was the fastest I ever jumped up in my life.. m4 buttstock smash followed soon afterward.
fuck centipedes
and fuck haiti while I'm at it

http://img863.imageshack.us/img863/7360/dsc01340.jpg

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Those look like the ones we have here. We have generally two types: One is brown (with a hint of red) like the one in your pic, and the other is a purple-ish/blue color. They get maybe 8" or so in length (they look bigger cause they're so spooky looking), and maybe a 1/2" wide (talking about the body). For their size, they are incredbly powerful insects.

For those that might remember, Loggins and Messina recorded a song years ago called, "Lahaina". That song is about centipedes.