page_title: Centipede
section_title: Lifecycle
hierarchical_section_title: Centipede / Lifecycle
caption_attribution_description: English: A centipede guarding its eggs, from Oregon Caves National Monument.
context_page_description: Centipedes are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda, an arthropod group which also includes millipedes and other multi-legged creatures. Centipedes are elongated metameric creatures with one pair of legs per body segment. Most centipedes are generally venomous and can inflict painful bites, injecting their venom through pincer-like appendages known as forcipules. Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs, ranging from 30 to 354. Centipedes always have an odd number of pairs of legs. Therefore, no centipede has exactly 100 legs. Similar to spiders and scorpions, centipedes are predominantly carnivorous.
  Their size can range from a few millimetres in the smaller lithobiomorphs and geophilomorphs to about 30 cm in the largest scolopendromorphs. Centipedes can be found in a wide variety of environments. They normally have a drab coloration combining shades of brown and red. Cavernicolous and subterranean species may lack pigmentation, and many tropical scolopendromorphs have bright aposematic colors.
  Worldwide, an estimated 8,000 species of centipedes are thought to exist, of which 3,000 have been described.
context_section_description: Centipede reproduction does not involve copulation. Males deposit a spermatophore for the female to take up. In one clade, this spermatophore is deposited in a web, and the male undertakes a courtship dance to encourage the female to engulf his sperm. In other cases, the males just leave them for the females to find. In temperate areas, egg laying occurs in spring and summer, but in subtropical and tropical areas, little seasonality to centipede breeding is apparent. A few species of parthenogenetic centipedes are known.
  The Lithobiomorpha and Scutigeromorpha lay their eggs singly in holes in the soil, and the female fills the holes with soil and leaves them. The number of eggs laid ranges from about 10 to 50. Time of development of the embryo to hatching is highly variable and may take from one to a few months. Time of development to reproductive period is highly variable within and among species. For example, it can take 3 years for S. coleoptrata to achieve adulthood, whereas under the right conditions, lithobiomorph species may reach a reproductive period in 1 year. In addition, centipedes are relatively long-lived when compared to insects. For example, the European Lithobius forficatus may live for 5 to 6 years, and the wide-ranging Scolopendra subspinipes can live for over 10 years. The combination of a small number of eggs laid, long gestation period, and long time of development to reproduction has led authors to label lithobiomorph centipedes as K-selected.
  Females of the Geophilomorpha and Scolopendromorpha show far more parental care. The eggs, 15 to 60 in number, are laid in a nest in the soil or in rotten wood. The female stays with the eggs, guarding and cleaning them to protect them from fungi. The female in some species stays with the young after they have hatched, guarding them until they are ready to leave. If disturbed, the female either abandons the eggs or eats them; abandoned eggs tend to fall prey to fungi rapidly. Some species of Scolopendromorpha are matriphagic, meaning the offspring eat their mother.
  Little is known of the life history of the Craterostigmomorpha.
caption: A centipede protecting her first instar offspring
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