The Seychelles giant centipede (Milpat in Creole) is a very large centipede found throughout the tropics. It’s found on the granitics, corallines and Aldabra. Juveniles are blue-grey while adults are orange-brown. It is a mainly nocturnal predator, hiding by day under leaf litter or bark. It overcomes its prey using poison injected by its powerful fangs; it can take lizards as well as invertebrates and can inflict a very painful bite. It is abundant on the plateaux of granitic islands and throughout the corallines.
The Amazonian giant centipede, is the largest existing species of centipede in the world, reaching over 30 cm (12 in) in length. It is known to eat lizards, frogs, birds, mice, and even bats, catching them in midflight, as well as rodents and spiders. The bodies of giant centipedes consist of 21 to 23 segments which are coppery red or maroon, each with a pair of yellow-tinted legs; the legs are adapted for fast walking making them faster than millipedes.
Centipedes have long antennae which they use for sensing their surroundings and finding food. They also dry out easily and like to keep themselves in moist areas especially where there is leaf litter.
These foremost legs of centipedes are called the forcipules. They look like pincers under the mouthparts and it is with these that centipedes deliver venom. A bite from a centipede, particularly a big one, can be extremely painful and cause swelling and fever.
(Photo credit: David Richardson)