Centipede ID - South Africa

Ice Cold Milk

Arachnobaron
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Jul 21, 2004
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398
hello,
this centipede is 16-17cm, and wild caught in northeastern South Africa.
I've had it for a year, and now all of a sudden i noticed that it has a clutch of eggs, so i'm very motivated to find out what it is!

any help is appreciated.
-=ICM=-

 

Ice Cold Milk

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Jul 21, 2004
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398
the 2nd tergite overlaps the head (as far as I can tell)...
perhaps that's a morphological trait? *shrug*
 

beetleman

Arachnoking
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Jan 5, 2005
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2,874
yup,that's what it is,i have 1 aswell had for sometime now it was sold to me as "black form bluering" awesome stocky pedes they are!
 

Satellite Rob

Arachnoangel
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Thats 1 you never showed me before.I want some of the pedelings.Remenber
whos your buddy.
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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I had one, pretty cool. Steven on this site had a really big one with bright solid blue legs, looked different from others I've seen.
 

Ice Cold Milk

Arachnobaron
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are those red dots above the legs the spiracles?? (i see them on segment 3, 5, 7, 8)
 

peterbourbon

Arachnolord
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Nov 25, 2007
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Hi,

yes those "dots" are the spiracles - and your speciman features one at the 7th segment & the terminal legs are of normal length, so it's Ethmostigmus.
Outer appearance and also distribution (very common species in Africa) points towards Ethmostigmus trigonopodus.
By the way: There is no other Ethmostigmus-species occuring in Africa at all.

Regards
Turgut
 

Ice Cold Milk

Arachnobaron
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398
Thanks, that's very helpful!

I read that max size on these is supposed to be 7" (17-18cm).
The guy I got him from SWEARS he finds ones that are 35-45cm. Taking into account his obvious truth-stretching, do you think that these may reach 20cm+? Any captive kept ones that are that large?

-=ICM=-
 

peterbourbon

Arachnolord
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Nov 25, 2007
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Hey,

take this guy as a possibility to gain a lot of money, just bid. And if he looses (that's obvious) he should pay you $1000. ;)

Anyway...I have never seen an E. trigonopodus with 20cm BL, but I remember some hobbyists kept those big ones.

Especially the deep blue ones from Kenia grow quite big and bulky (It's the one on Steven's homepage).

I even don't believe in S. giganteas with 40cm BL (except I see a picture next to a ruler).

Regards
Turgut
 

zonbonzovi

Creeping beneath you
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Oct 20, 2008
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I have one at about 4.5" BL and while "nervous" when removed from its cozy den, it has never attempted biting me while I was handling it. I believe Cacoseraph has a pic of one straddling his nose.
 

CodeWilster

Arachnobaron
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Aug 13, 2008
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Lol of course! It's his avatar on SCABIES. It's either that or a "Neon Blue leg" (Scolopendra mirabilis). Anyway one (E. trigonopodus) came in the mail today and therefore I answered my own question. I went ahead and held it (took a video too). It's super mellow compared to my other pedes!
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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here is the thing about trigo's.... the blue ones were nothing to get bit by but the yellow ones sucked so bad i got rid of mine. only species that gave my lymphatic swelling... the lymph node in my armpit got so big i couldn't put my arm down all the way
 

CodeWilster

Arachnobaron
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Aug 13, 2008
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Wow that's interesting. Two of the 'same' species with very different venom effects. So that pede on your nose was a Trigo? I thought I read somewhere it was a S. mirabilis "Neon Blue Leg".
 

zonbonzovi

Creeping beneath you
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mmm...lymphatic swelling. it has a sexy ring to it. not to be medically fetishistic, but- any pix of the apple in your armpit? i'm interested to see the physical effects of envenomation on someone who has "taken a few for the team".
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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mmm...lymphatic swelling. it has a sexy ring to it. not to be medically fetishistic, but- any pix of the apple in your armpit? i'm interested to see the physical effects of envenomation on someone who has "taken a few for the team".
no, i suck :/

and i probably will never get bit by that species again. really, i accomplished what i wanted with testing exotic/native centipede venom... i found a few species that seem to have minimal human reactivity. now i am going to do some of the non-theraphosidae mygalomorphs (pretty much just native species)
 

Ice Cold Milk

Arachnobaron
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Jul 21, 2004
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398
Finally got a pic of her without disturbing her (i hope!)

I have no idea how far along these eggs are, i noticed her building a burrow about a month ago, and it was last week that I noticed eggs.

 
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