Insect Picture of the Day

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I know a lot of you read InsectPOD on weekdays, so I try to make sure that Monday has the most amazing picture of the week, something to welcome you back with special. Today’s picture comes from Andrew Lin, who sent us a picture of a house centipede once before. He says he caught this one in a glass and photographed it before releasing it outside.

I can’t get enough of this picture. If bugs had glamour shots, this would be one. Wow. Great shot, Andrew!

I’ve been getting zero response on wallpapers up til now, so holler if you want one.

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Reader Andrew Lin takes us over to Phylum Arthropoda today with this picture of Scutigera coleoptrata, a House Centipede. Andrew took this photo last Fall in Sacramento, California. It’s about 2.5cm long.

Andrew says he finds these from time to time in his house; the house centipede is common throughout North America. (My last apartment had a thriving population of them.) House centipedes are extremely beneficial bugs to have in your house. They are, like all centipedes, crazy aggressive predators. They will decimate roach and cricket populations in your house if you let them.

Unfortunately for the house centipede, they are also way high on the creep factor, so they are not often tolerated. They move fast, have way too many legs for most people’s tastes, and they can inflict a painful bite if handled. According to the Internet, which knows all and never ever lies¹, a house centipede bite is about like a mild bee sting, but often the centipede’s tiny fangs are so small that they cannot pierce human skin.

Another cool fact about house centipedes: they have four legs when they hatch. When they molt, they grow additional legs: one pair after the first molt, then two pair after each subsequent molt until they have 15 pairs of legs.

Andrew also confirms that they are not openly aggressive towards humans: if you need to transport them out of the house, you can coax them into an open glass or onto a piece of paper. They’ll hold still while being moved, until you tip them out in the yard–at which point they invariably try to get back into the house².

Thanks for the picture, Andrew! This is great!

¹ Although censorship through speedy deletion is sometimes a problem. ZING!

² What part of “house centipede” do you not understand?