Cryptops clutch....Gotta start somewhere!

[vyadha]

Was feeding my WC pedes. One is a two inch Scolocryptops that dropped a clutch! Im super excited! Ive been tracking down heros to attempt to breed and will be sexing my polymorpha this weekend.

This was a rad surprise!
I gently moved her deli cup to a place where I can view without disturbing her. Hopefully it goes well.

 

[RTTB]

Very cool. I’m a big fan of the smaller centipedes. Got a few S sexspinosis guarding clutches currently. Springtime brings nice surprises.

 

[Scoly]

I just found some Cryptops sp in the greenhouses of my local Botanic Gardens. They are about 3cm long, and I got super excited!

I suppose some background context will help explain why...

Firstly I live in the UK, where you don't find big bugs. Seeing a reptile is a rare, rare sight. We get house spiders and that's about it. The only centipedes you find are Lithobius and Geophilidae. At least that's what I thought, until I checked http://www.bmig.org.uk/ and discovered that we do indeed have some very small and very rare Scolopendromorpha in the UK.

A few weeks ago, I unexpectedly found this under a shawl beside a river near where I live, my first wild Scolopendromorph in the UK!



This is way bigger than what I found yesterday, but sadly it slipped through my fingers and disappeared in the leaf litter. I went back to that spot three times to look for more (not that I haven't already spent hours over the years looking under logs nearby, even though there's hardly anything to find).

It seems this is Cryptops anomalans (http://www.bmig.org.uk/species/Cryptops-anomalans) which is extremely rare and thought to be introduced. And it seems really, really unlikely that I of all people should find it, there, on a shawl/blanket abandoned that very same day (it was still dry, it is now covered in mould) when I have dug around so often in that exact same spot and never seen one.

I later got thinking that it is possible the owner of the shawl was in the botanic gardens (15 minutes walk away form there) that day, picked up the centipede by accident, went to sit by the river, abandoned the shawl (or perhaps it was stolen, as there was nothing wrong with it and it didn't look cheap), when I found it (if this sounds familiar you're clearly a LOTR fan).

So I'd been meaning to go to the botanic gardens and check for myself. I finally got round to it yesterday. We went into the greenhouse part, I checked over my shoulder and flipped a rock, and found a Pycnoscelus surinamensis (Surinam cockroach) under it. So I bagged that and added it to my existing colony

Under the very next rock I found my centipede:



I'm not sure if it a juvenile, but I suspect not as I found 3 others of similar of smaller size (it's about 30mm) within 30 minutes of finding the first. But the point is that this supports my theory that the centipede may have been carried to that spot from the botanic gardens on the blanket.

It's not quite Sherlock Holmes stuff, but interesting.

 

[vyadha]

Super cool Scoly!

Unfortunately, it looks like mama got hungry. I came home from work and she was buried against the wall of the deli cup, no eggs. Not sure what went wrong but it inspired me to reorganize my bug room in case I have another WC clutch. Now I wont have to move any of them should I get lucky again.

On the hand.... Took some students rockflipping again. The first thing we find is the biggest polymorpha Ive seen around here

 

[Scoly]

Super cool Scoly!
Unfortunately, it looks like mama got hungry. I came home from work and she was buried against the wall of the deli cup, no eggs. Not sure what went wrong but it inspired me to reorganize my bug room in case I have another WC clutch. Now I wont have to move any of them should I get lucky again.

Unfortunately this happens. There is every chance she will lay another clutch however. I think with these ones the disturbance danger is quite high, as I'd imagine any kind of major moving of objects in natural habitat implies some dramatic upheaval which compromises the brooding site. Think of a passing mammal having a quick dig under a log, which seems like nothing to us but will have totally destroyed the brooding chamber, or just the infrastructure around it, meaning it may not retain the same humidity as before, or is simply not as safe as previously thought etc...
In that light, the adaptation which makes centipede mothers eat their eggs in response to any "big movement" around it makes total sense.

Super cool Scoly!
On the hand.... Took some students rockflipping again. The first thing we find is the biggest polymorpha Ive seen around here.

Awesome! They must have been thrilled Are you bringing that one into the classroom? Could be a gravid female.

 

[vyadha]

Yeah this one is living in the classroom. The students are excited about a polymorpha breeding program. Im building a CO2 chamber this weekend.

Also, Ive been talking with a guy near me who has bred a few US native species along with some imports. He informed me that pedes can drop infertile clutches and tend to eat those very quickly. Like they're aware that they are infertile.