- Joined
- Dec 16, 2006
- Messages
- 561
Hello all,
A drowning centipede
It has been a little bit since I have been very active on the Myriapods sub forum, but I hope I can contribute a little bit of knowledge to sexing Scolopendra centipedes. I volunteer at the OSU Insectary, and plan on breeding their 9 centipedes, Scolopendra dehaani. So far I have confirmed 5 females and 2 male centipedes.
To start I would like to confirm that I didn't notice any outward differences between sexes. I know this myth still gets around. All of these centipedes are from the same brood, and have been at the Insectary for most, if not all of their lives. There was slight variation in the size of the centipedes, but if anything the Males looked bigger than the Females (Could males develop faster?). So hopefully this helps bunk the myth that you can visually differentate most Scolopendra centipedes.
Any ways Here are some photos of the 9 S. dehaani centipedes reproductive organs being popped.
#1 Female
#2 ????? (I am guessing female what do you guys think?)
#3 Female
#4 Male (Note the two projections, those are the Gonopods I believe)
#5 ????? (I am guessing female what do you guys think?)
#7 Male
#8 Female
#9 Female
#10 Female
For Centipedes #1-#3 I drowned, the rest I gassed out of convenience. For drowning the centipedes, I made a hole small enough so that the centipedes couldn't get out (and conveniently the right size for gassing the centipedes), but water could get in. I submerged the deli container with the centipede in it and first left the centipede alone for 5 minutes. It didn't take long for the centipede to settle down, but I found that they still were able to grasp my fingers with their legs. So I pushed it back to 15 minutes under water. This gave me an ample amount of time to pop the centipedes, and put them back in the container when I was done. All in all the centipedes were immobilized for about 5 minutes using the drowning technique. They all came too and were active after I was done knocking them out.
Here is the container with a little bit of air trapped in still, I had to make sure to get as much of it out as possible.
Centipedes #4-#10 (Centipede #6 died a couple weeks ago), I gassed using CO2. They had a cylinder so it was easy to just stick the tube into the hole I had already made. I gassed the centipedes individually for around 1 min. Which once taking their limp body out of the container, gave me around 1 minute to work with them. More than enough time to snap a couple photos and put them back in the enclosure. I have attached a video of a centipede being gassed.
Here is an image of the centipede gas chamber. Pretty minimal.
Also here is a video of a centipede being gassed.
All and all I am very excited to know the sexes, and next time I go in I will be attempting to breed them. Ill see what I can do about recording the process and how they interact.
nepenthes
A drowning centipede
It has been a little bit since I have been very active on the Myriapods sub forum, but I hope I can contribute a little bit of knowledge to sexing Scolopendra centipedes. I volunteer at the OSU Insectary, and plan on breeding their 9 centipedes, Scolopendra dehaani. So far I have confirmed 5 females and 2 male centipedes.
To start I would like to confirm that I didn't notice any outward differences between sexes. I know this myth still gets around. All of these centipedes are from the same brood, and have been at the Insectary for most, if not all of their lives. There was slight variation in the size of the centipedes, but if anything the Males looked bigger than the Females (Could males develop faster?). So hopefully this helps bunk the myth that you can visually differentate most Scolopendra centipedes.
Any ways Here are some photos of the 9 S. dehaani centipedes reproductive organs being popped.
#1 Female
#2 ????? (I am guessing female what do you guys think?)
#3 Female
#4 Male (Note the two projections, those are the Gonopods I believe)
#5 ????? (I am guessing female what do you guys think?)
#7 Male
#8 Female
#9 Female
#10 Female
For Centipedes #1-#3 I drowned, the rest I gassed out of convenience. For drowning the centipedes, I made a hole small enough so that the centipedes couldn't get out (and conveniently the right size for gassing the centipedes), but water could get in. I submerged the deli container with the centipede in it and first left the centipede alone for 5 minutes. It didn't take long for the centipede to settle down, but I found that they still were able to grasp my fingers with their legs. So I pushed it back to 15 minutes under water. This gave me an ample amount of time to pop the centipedes, and put them back in the container when I was done. All in all the centipedes were immobilized for about 5 minutes using the drowning technique. They all came too and were active after I was done knocking them out.
Here is the container with a little bit of air trapped in still, I had to make sure to get as much of it out as possible.
Centipedes #4-#10 (Centipede #6 died a couple weeks ago), I gassed using CO2. They had a cylinder so it was easy to just stick the tube into the hole I had already made. I gassed the centipedes individually for around 1 min. Which once taking their limp body out of the container, gave me around 1 minute to work with them. More than enough time to snap a couple photos and put them back in the enclosure. I have attached a video of a centipede being gassed.
Here is an image of the centipede gas chamber. Pretty minimal.
Also here is a video of a centipede being gassed.
All and all I am very excited to know the sexes, and next time I go in I will be attempting to breed them. Ill see what I can do about recording the process and how they interact.
nepenthes
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