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Scolopendra gigantea, Peruvian giant centipede hifi

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Scolopendra gigantea, Peruvian giant centipede is one of the largest species of centipedes in the world. It has reliably obtained 9-10"/22-25cm body length and reputably achieved 12-14"/30-35cm! As the name implies, this centipede can be found in Peru and in other parts of the Amazon. Heavy restrictions on the invertebrate trade from most/all of the countries of origin of the beautiful species ensure that they remain rare in USA collections... but when you can find one to view they are simply amazing! This centipede is at least 9"/22cm long in the body. If you count its antenna and long hind legs this centipede can stretch an amazing 14"/36cm! A fellow local bughead was kind enough to let me play with his gigantea, which is very fortunate for me as i will likely never be able to afford the $300+ (USD2007) that this specimen would go for on the open USA market. The bite of this species is likely very unpleasant, but in no way deadly to humans. There is not a lot written about centipede envenomations and even less about envenomations by this pracking huge species. I was very tempted to test this venom on myself... but the large unknown factor and the fact i drove myself to the Bugfair where i handled this pede convinced me that discretion is probably the better part of valor... for now! n.b. there is some confusion in the hobby world about just what exactly to call this species, scientifically. For a while there were VERY large centipedes from South America being sold variously as Scolopendra gigantea, S. robusta, or S. gigantea robusta. Officially the trinomial S. gigantea robusta has been busted (heh, boy its so late for me right now, it is early... can you tell?) by the noted myriapodologist Rowland Shelley. Officially S. robusta are a similar looking, though much smaller (though still largeish in the grand scheme) species from Mexico and S. gigantea are a HUGE centipedes from the Amazon... so i *think* this is S. gigantea, even though it was sold to its current owner as S. robusta. [THIS MOVIE WAS UPLOADED FROM A 40MB WMV FILE]

Category: Animals
Uploaded: May 21st, 2007 @ 4:42 am
Author: cacoseraph

Length: 05:04
Rating: Whole StarWhole StarWhole StarWhole StarHalf Star
Views: 196,441

Tags: bugfair centipede giant gigantea history la museum natural peruvian robusta scolopendra

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