Chinese red-headed centipede

Chinese red-headed centipede
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Myriapoda
Class: Chilopoda
Order: Scolopendromorpha
Family: Scolopendridae
Genus: Scolopendra
Species:
S. mutilans
Binomial name
Scolopendra mutilans
L. Koch, 1878
Centipede classification

The Chinese red-headed centipede, also known as the Chinese red head, (Scolopendra mutilans) is a centipede from East Asia (type locality: Japan). It averages 20 cm (8 in) in length and lives in damp environments.[1]

Chinese red-headed centipede

In ancient Chinese traditions, this centipede is used for its healing properties. Putting a Chinese red head on a rash or other skin-disease is said to speed up the healing process. The roasted dry centipede is pulverized and used in Korea for the treatment of back pain, furuncles, and sores.[2]

S. mutilans is known for harbouring little aggression to other centipedes, a trait very rare amongst giant centipedes, and allows it to be kept communally. Antimicrobial activities of the identified compounds were reported against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites, that possibly explain centipede's survival in harsh and polluted environments.[3]

Females are incubator mothers, guarding the eggs by wrapping their bodies around their clutches until the eggs hatch.[4]

S. mutilans differs from S. subspinipes in spination of the prefemur of the ventral legs, ventrally, dorsally, and medially.[5]

  1. ^ The PLOS ONE Staff (2015-09-22). "Correction: The Centipede Genus Scolopendra in Mainland Southeast Asia: Molecular Phylogenetics, Geometric Morphometrics and External Morphology as Tools for Species Delimitation". PLOS ONE. 10 (9): e0139182. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1039182.. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139182. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4579078. PMID 26393360.
  2. ^ Moon, Surk-Sik; Cho, Namsun; Shin, Jongheon; Seo, Youngwan; Lee, Chong Ock; Choi, Sang Un (1996-01-01). "Jineol, a Cytotoxic Alkaloid from the Centipede Scolopendra subspinipes". Journal of Natural Products. 59 (8): 777–779. doi:10.1021/np960188t. ISSN 0163-3864.
  3. ^ Ali, Salwa Mansur; Khan, Naveed Ahmed; Sagathevan, K.; Anwar, Ayaz; Siddiqui, Ruqaiyyah (2019-06-28). "Biologically active metabolite(s) from haemolymph of red-headed centipede Scolopendra subspinipes possess broad spectrum antibacterial activity". AMB Express. 9 (1): 95. doi:10.1186/s13568-019-0816-3. ISSN 2191-0855. PMC 6598926. PMID 31254123.
  4. ^ Johannsen, O. A.; Butt, Ferdinand Hinckley (1941). Embryology of insects and myriapods; the developmental history of insects, centipedes, and millepedes from egg desposition [!] to hatching, by Oskar A. Johannsen ... and Ferdinand H. Butt ... New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, inc. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.6583.
  5. ^ "Review of the subspecies of Scolopendra subspinipes Leach, 1815 with the new description of the South Chinese member of the genus Scolopendra Linnaeus, 1758 named Scolopendra hainanum spec. nov.: (Myriapoda, Chilopoda, Scolopendridae)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2021-05-29.