Scolopendridae


Scolopendridae, from Ancient Greek σκόλοψ, meaning "thorn", and ἔντερον, meaning "earthworm", is a family of large centipedes.

Description

Nearly all species in this family have four ocelli on each side of the head and only 21 pairs of legs, but there are exceptions: two scolopendrid species feature more legs, and some scolopendrid species are eyeless and blind. Three Asian members of this family, Scolopendra cataracta, Scolopendra paradoxa, and Scolopendra alcyona, are known to show amphibious behaviour. Two other species, Scolopendra hardwickei and Hemiscolopendra marginata, are known to show sexual dimorphism in the composition of their venom.

Genera

Subfamily Otostigminae (Kraepelin, 1903)

Tribe Otostigmini (Kraeplin, 1903)

  • Alipes Imhoff, 1854
  • Alluropus Silvestri, 1911
  • Digitipes Attems, 1930
  • Edentistoma Tömösváry,1882
  • Ethmostigmus Pocock, 1898
  • Otostigmus Porat, 1876
  • Rhysida Wood, 1862

    Tribe Sterropristini (Verhoeff, 1937)

  • Sterropristes Attems, 1934

    Subfamily Scolopendrinae (Leach, 1814)

  • Arthrorhabdus Pocock, 1891
  • Asanada Meinert, 1885
  • Asanadopsis Würmli, 1972
  • Campylostigmus Ribaut, 1923
  • Notiasemus Koch, 1985
  • Procrytops Piton, 1940
  • Psiloscolopendra Kraepelin, 1903
  • Rhoda Meinert, 1886
  • Scolopendra Linnaeus, 1758
  • Scolopendropsis Brandt, 1841
  • Tonkinodentus Schileyko, 1992
The earliest record of this family is †Cratoraricrus, an extinct genus from the Early Cretaceous of the Crato Formation of Brazil.