Scolopendra (from Ancient Greek (), meaning "thorn", and (), meaning "earthworm") is a species-rich genus of large tropical centipedes of the family Scolopendridae.

Description The genus Scolopendra contains many species of centipedes found across the world's tropics and warmer temperate areas. The species vary considerably in coloration and size. Scolopendra are mostly very large centipedes. The largest species found in tropical climates can exceed and are the largest living centipedes in the world. All Scolopendra species can deliver a painful bite, injecting venom through their forcipules, which are not fangs or other mouthparts; rather, these are modified legs on the first body segment.

Ecology Scolopendra species are active predators, feeding primarily on insects and other invertebrates. Larger specimens have been observed preying on frogs, tarantulas, lizards, birds, snakes, rodents, and even bats. Two southeast Asian species, S. cataracta and S. paradoxa, as well as S. alcyona from the Ryukyu Islands, are amphibious, as these species can travel underwater by swimming or walking.

Venom The venom of most species is not medically significant; however, bites from several species can cause intense and long-lasting pain and swelling. Large Scolopendra species from Asian/Pacific regions, such as Scolopendra subspinipes and Scolopendra dehaani, are particularly potent, and have caused one reported fatality. In 2014, a fatality was reported for a bite from a Scolopendra gigantea. The venom of certain Scolopendra species was found to contain compounds such as serotonin, haemolytic phospholipase, a cardiotoxic protein, and a cytolysin.

Taxonomic history Scolopendra was one of the genera created by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, the starting point for zoological nomenclature. Only two of the species originally assigned to the genus remain so: Scolopendra gigantea and S. morsitans; the latter was chosen to be the type species by Opinion 454 of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, overruling a previous designation by Pierre André Latreille, in which he chose Linnaeus' Scolopendra forficata (now Lithobius forficatus) as the type species.

Species The genus Scolopendra contains these species:

Scolopendra abnormis Lewis & Daszak, 1996 Scolopendra afer (Meinert, 1886) Scolopendra alcyona Tsukamoto & Shimano, 2021 Scolopendra algerina Newport, 1845 Scolopendra alternans Leach, 1813 Scolopendra andhrensis Jangi & Dass, 1984 Scolopendra angulata Newport, 1844 Scolopendra angusticollis Murray, 1887 Scolopendra anomia Newport, 1844 Scolopendra appendiculata Daday, 1891 Scolopendra arenicola (Lawrence, 1975) Scolopendra arthrorhabdoides Ribaut, 1912 Scolopendra attemsi Lewis, Minelli & Shelley, 2006 Scolopendra aztecorum Verhoeff, 1934 Scolopendra calcarata Porat, 1876 Scolopendra canidens Newport, 1844 Scolopendra cataracta Siriwut, Edgecombe & Panha, 2016 Scolopendra childreni Newport, 1844 Scolopendra chlora Chamberlin, 1942 Scolopendra chlorotes C. L. Koch, 1856 Scolopendra cingulata Latreille, 1829 Scolopendra clavipes C. L. Koch, 1847 Scolopendra concolor Newport, 1845 Scolopendra crassa Templeton, 1846 Scolopendra cretica Attems, 1902 Scolopendra cribrifera Gervais, 1847 Scolopendra crudelis C. L. Koch, 1847 Scolopendra dalmatica C. L. Koch, 1847 Scolopendra dawydoffi Kronmüller, 2012 Scolopendra dehaani Brandt, 1840 Scolopendra ellorensis Jangi & Dass, 1984 Scolopendra fissispina L. Koch, 1865 Scolopendra foveolata Verhoeff, 1937 Scolopendra galapagoensis Bollman, 1889 Scolopendra gigantea Linnaeus, 1758 Scolopendra gracillima Attems, 1898 Scolopendra hainanum Kronmüller, 2012 Scolopendra hardwickei Newport, 1844 Scolopendra hermosa Chamberlin, 1941 Scolopendra heros Girard, 1853 Scolopendra horrida C. L. Koch, 1847 Scolopendra inaequidens Gervais, 1847 Scolopendra indiae (Chamberlin, 1914) Scolopendra indica Meinert, 1886 Scolopendra inermipes C. L. Koch, 1847 Scolopendra inermis Newport, 1845 Scolopendra jangii Khanna & Yadav, 1997 Scolopendra japonica Koch, 1878 Scolopendra koreana (Verhoeff, 1934) Scolopendra labiata C. L. Koch, 1863 Scolopendra laeta Haase, 1887 Scolopendra langi (Chamberlin, 1927) Scolopendra latro Meinert, 1886 Scolopendra leki (Waldock & Edgecombe 2012) Scolopendra limicolor Wood, 1861 Scolopendra lucasii Gervais, 1847 Scolopendra lufengia S. Kang et al., 2017GBIF https://www.gbif.org/species/10427121 Scolopendra lufengia Scolopendra lutea (Attems, 1928) Scolopendra madagascariensis Attems, 1910 Scolopendra malkini Chamberlin, 1955 Scolopendra mazbii Gravely, 1912 Scolopendra media (Muralewicz, 1926) Scolopendra melionii Lucas, 1853 Scolopendra metuenda Pocock, 1895 Scolopendra michoacana Chamberlin, 1941 Scolopendra mima Chamberlin, 1942 Scolopendra mirabilis (Porat, 1876) Scolopendra monticola (Lawrence, 1975) Scolopendra morsitans Linnaeus, 1758 Scolopendra multidens Newport, 1844 Scolopendra negrocapitis Zhang & Wang, 1999 Scolopendra nuda (Jangi & Dass, 1980) Scolopendra occidentalis F. Meinert, 1886 Scolopendra octodentata Verhoeff, 1934 Scolopendra oraniensis Lucas, 1846 Scolopendra paradoxa Doménech, 2018 Scolopendra pachygnatha Pocock, 1895 Scolopendra paranuda (Khanna & Tripathi, 1987) Scolopendra pentagramma Motschoulsky, 1886 Scolopendra pinguis Pocock, 1891 Scolopendra polymorpha Wood, 1861 Scolopendra pomacea C. L. Koch, 1847 Scolopendra puncticeps Wood, 1861 Scolopendra punensis Jangi & Dass, 1984 Scolopendra robusta Kraepelin, 1903 Scolopendra sanatillae Bollman, 1893 Scolopendra silhetensis Newport, 1845 Scolopendra spinipriva Bücherl, 1946 Scolopendra spinosissima Kraepelin, 1903 Scolopendra subspinipes Leach, 1816 Scolopendra sumichrasti Saussure, 1860 Scolopendra tenuitarsis Pocock, 1895 Scolopendra teretipes (Porat,1893) Scolopendra valida Lucas, 1840 Scolopendra violacea Fabricius, 1798 Scolopendra viridicornis Newport, 1844 Scolopendra viridipes Dufour, 1820 Scolopendra viridis Say, 1821 Scolopendra zuluana (Lawrence, 1958) One fossil species, †Scolopendra proavita, is known from Baltic amber deposits from the Eocene of Poland. Fossil remains of a species tentatively assigned to S. morsitans (as S. (cf) morsitans) are also known from Pliocene-aged rocks in the Makapansgat of South Africa.

Species gallery

See also Gu (poison)

References