Red-Headed Centipede
The Red-Headed Centipedes are a subspecies of the Escolopendra Hero. They are one of the largest species in the world and can be as long as 12 inches. Their heads are red, with segmented bodies of reddish brown or black. Each segment has a pair of yellow legs.
Redheaded centipedes can be found in much of the southwestern United States, as well as in northern Mexico. They prefer dark, damp environments and take cover during the day. Cracks in the rocks, leaves, and rocks provide shelter, but can also be buried in the ground. At nightfall, they hunt their prey; Insects are their main food source.
The tails of these Red-Headed Centipedes looks like their heads. This feature serves to confuse predators. Besides, they are equipped to handle a painful and poisonous sting that can incapacitate and kill small prey and predators.
The redheaded centipede body is usually red or reddish brown with yellow or yellow-orange legs. The redheaded centipede has 21 segments of the body and with each segment that has a pair of legs joined together. It has a pair of modified legs known as forcípulas that are in his head, covered by a flat screen and carrying a pair of antennas.
Red-Headed Centipede Main Tool
The forcípulas are the main tools used by the centipede to kill their prey or for defense since they have sharp claws that connect to the poison glands. Centipedes breathe through the openings located along the sides of their body. These openings may vary in round or S-shaped form.
They are very aggressive and nervous and are always ready to attack since they are very sensitive to vibrations. They hunt almost everything they put their way. They have simple eyes and great vision problems, so they depend a lot on touch and their chemoreceptors
Feeding
It feeds mainly on insects and other considerable predatory arthropods (such as spiders). Sometimes, mice, amphibians and small reptiles are also on their menu, if they are large enough to dominate these vertebrates. They hunt almost everything they put their way. During a fight, the centipede uses the whole of its body, holding tightly to the opponent's body with its legs and rolling up its prey, at which point it quickly penetrates its calipers into the victim by injecting its venom.
Reproduction
The female lays 50 to 80 eggs that she watches and protects until they hatch. If it detects danger, it wraps around your babies to keep them safe. The centipede procreates once a year and takes three to four years to reach the adult size, being able to live up to ten years or more.
The Sting
The centipedes bite with powerful fangs that are behind the head, where the first pair of legs has become a powerful pair of tweezers. Within each fang, there is a gland that secretes a potent neurotoxin. When the centipede bites, its fangs penetrate the body of the prey, the muscles surrounding the glands contract and the venom is expelled through a channel that ends near the tip of the tusk. The dam is quickly paralyzed, it has no escape.
The bites of this centipede were common when most of our population lived in rural areas hiding between floorboards or walls. The painful encounter happened when someone stepped barefoot on the animal or put on a pair of pants inside which was the hidden arthropod. The shouting and running were immediate. The toxin in our centipedes is not deadly, but the bite is painful, and the poison can redden and numb the affected area.
The Red-Headed Centipede and even all centipedes prefer humid environments, such as under rocks, logs, and leaves. They are also known to inhabit caves in the ground or holes in rotten wood. They prefer the humid and leafy forest instead of the warm and desert conditions.
Centipedes Around The World
While centipedes have been seen even in the Arctic Circle, these small carnivores prefer environments in which they can retain moisture; they usually live under rocks, trunks or the remains of leaves that fall to the forest floor. These small animals lose water quickly through their skin because they lack the waxy cuticle, a strong but flexible cover, which many insects have. Because of this, Red-Headed Centipedes also are inclined towards the wetter micro-habitats. They are also attracted to decomposing matter. Rotten wood and soil burrows generally harbor populations of these insects.
And again, Centipedes are invertebrates that have a hard exoskeleton; the head presents a pair of antennae and a mouth. The back has a pair of poisonous claws that it uses to capture and kill its prey.
Centipedes are carnivorous animals. Due to the effective use of their claws, centipedes are among the most dominant predators in the world of insects. On the forest floor, they hunt insects, spiders, worms and other small invertebrates. Larger species, such as the giant Red-Headed Centipede, are known to eat small mammals and reptiles.
Red-Headed Centipede With Predatory
Like most other insects, centipedes face larger predatory animals in their environment. Birds, toads and small mammals hunt and eat different species of centipedes. Some of these predators move the rocks or scramble among the fallen leaves looking for populations of these insects.
Although the bite of a Redhead Centipede will not kill any human being, it can be extremely painful for up to two days. Individuals with known allergies to insects may experience more severe reactions and should seek medical help if perhaps the Red-Headed Centipede bit them.
Conclusion
The Red-Headed Centipede and some other centipede are likely to sting you if you come across them. Still, scientists reassure all those who are concerned as well as state that centipedes out there do not carry any disease which could affect folks out there, animals or perhaps plants. Centipedes are not mosquitoes that you and I know among which there might be one infected or maybe contaminated with malaria since centipedes cannot do much hurt or damage to humans. We don't need to be afraid of these creatures since they can also help in some ways.