Giant Redheaded Centipede (Scolopendra heros)

[Hercules Hernandez]

I live in the natural range of Scolopendra heros and would like to try and catch/collect and/or just observe some in the wild. What are the best places to look and when. I’ve seen them in the wild before, but only by chance. I can’t draw any connections to the places or conditions I’ve found them under.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

This thread might prove useful:

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/s-heros-collection-data-base.293557/

 

[NYAN]

Lift up rocks and other debris in areas where water is present nearby. Also after it rains, centipedes typically come closer to the surface.

 

[NYAN]

This thread might prove useful:

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/s-heros-collection-data-base.293557/

This thread is awesome but is more for arizonensis than castaneiceps. The flora and landscape might not apply as much but the environmental factors still probably would.

 

[Hercules Hernandez]

This thread is awesome but is more for arizonensis than castaneiceps. The flora and landscape might not apply as much but the environmental factors still probably would.

I read that heros castaneiceps is now just heros, that heros heros is just a color form of red headed heros, and that arizonensis is still heros arizonensis but is a subspecies of heros. Is this true? They did change it on iNaturalist too.

 

[Galapoheros]

I've found heros heros on the west side of Lake Amistad and somebody told me they found the castaneiceps variety on the east side of the lake. Also heard a color range is found south of there, kind of a butterscotch looking color, where no colors stand out. I've seen one, has a washed out look to it.

 

[NYAN]

I read that heros castaneiceps is now just heros, that heros heros is just a color form of red headed heros, and that arizonensis is still heros arizonensis but is a subspecies of heros. Is this true? They did change it on iNaturalist too.

Since when?! This is news to me then, do you have a link to the revision?

 

[Hercules Hernandez]

Since when?! This is news to me then, do you have a link to the revision?

I don’t have a link, although I really wish I had saved it. If you download iNaturalist though, Scolopendra heros and Scolopendra heros arizonensis are the only valid two species of heros in there now.

 

[Hercules Hernandez]

I've found heros heros on the west side of Lake Amistad and somebody told me they found the castaneiceps variety on the east side of the lake. Also heard a color range is found south of there, kind of a butterscotch looking color, where no colors stand out. I've seen one, has a washed out look to it.

Thanks Galapoheros! Do you have any pics of the butterscotch one’s? I’ve seen blue polymorpha, rainbows polymorpha and regular polymorpha at the lake, but never any heros. I need to get looking, especially since I live in Del Rio and now’s the time of year I see a lot of people collecting and herping here on the sides of roads.

 

[Galapoheros]

Thanks Galapoheros! Do you have any pics of the butterscotch one’s? I’ve seen blue polymorpha, rainbows polymorpha and regular polymorpha at the lake, but never any heros. I need to get looking, especially since I live in Del Rio and now’s the time of year I see a lot of people collecting and herping here on the sides of roads.

I didn't get a pic of the butterscotch looking one, something was wrong with it and it died in a few days, I never had it though. The person that had said somebody caught it south of Uvalde and Brackettville and he said most of them there look like that in the area, maybe like just east of Eagle Pass. I used to go herping around Del Rio years ago but I got stopped too often by border patrol, wondering what I was doing, they searched my truck, I had enough but it was fun. I ended up just looking for centipedes at night crossing the road but they still stop you, technically it's not legal to hunt stuff from the road though. Sometimes they enforce it hard and other times they kind of let it go. You won't find any where it's flat, you will find them when it starts to get hilly and there are dry creek beds around, small cliffs, areas like that. It's that they don't come out often but they are there. They are probably at a dry creek bed closest to you but it's people's nature to think they aren't there just because they don't see them. I've seen 3 or 4 in one night and then, a week or two of looking hard and seeing nothing.

 

[LawnShrimp]

I don’t have a link, although I really wish I had saved it. If you download iNaturalist though, Scolopendra heros and Scolopendra heros arizonensis are the only valid two species of heros in there now.

iNat is really behind on taxonomy... S. dehaani and all of the former subspinipes subspecies are still called subspinipes, and longipes is still called alternans.

As with all centipedes, look for them in areas with plant life and many rocks, logs, or other hiding places. They will be active on the surface directly after a rainstorm, which is the best time to look for heros.

 

[dragonfire1577]

S. heros is the only valid subspecies currently and all the variations are just color forms