Big Centipede

Last August my son’s school started the year with a school-wide focus on insects. When we’d drop him off or pick him up we would see experiments laid out to determine various properties of ant behavior. We collected arthropods to bring in too, butterflies, bees, spiders, whatever we could find.

One evening my wife was sitting on the couch, and I was wandering about the kitchen. We were talking. She noticed something crawling across the floor.

This centipede is about 11 cm long, or about 4.5 inches. This is not that big in an absolute sense. You aren’t going to be carried off. But as crawly critters go, this is really, really big. I think this is desert tiger centipede, but I really don’t have a key or guide that I trust.

The centipede is really a neat animal. Primitive, segmented all over, even the antennae. Alien, though, is the word I think when I see it. Their eyesight isn’t good, their shell isn’t robust and they’ll dry out if left in the sun. I suppose this is why we haven’t seen any of these again.

We brought it in to share with the class. I think it was unwelcome since ti came home the same day.