Scolopendra galapagoensis

Tarantula

Arachnobaron
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Randolph XX() said:
then there should be plenty of photos of they are naturalists or guides, right?
hope i am wrong cuz i am dying to see the photos of the gigantic pedes!
I belive most peoble want to see a pic of a tortoise large as a Fiat Panda rather than a centipede that is 25"... ;)
 

Peter_Parker

Arachnobaron
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Ok, Hypothetical Q & A time.. :D Let's pretend that the 22'' pede did exist. And lets also pretend that somehow it was in the pet trade too, or that it was possible to export them to the U.S. Who here would have the guts to keep one (besides zoos, of course)? Just curious...:p
 

Tarantula

Arachnobaron
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Peter_Parker said:
or that it was possible to export them to the U.S.
It is possible to import them to any country in the world... almost. S. galapagoensis doesnt only occur on the Galapagos Islands. They also occur in Chile (southern), Ecuador and Peru.


Oh I would keep one... Im looking for one atm... ;)
 

Peter_Parker

Arachnobaron
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interesting...

Oh... Well if that's the case, shouldn't there be more pictures and documents on them? I mean, if they are in all those other countries there should be a higher incidence of them, correct? I won't pretend to be a pede expert, but it just seems weird to me {D I'm not sure if I would or not, I mean, what/how often would you have to feed that thing ??? You'd need more than some crickets and a mouse to satisfy that one... :D
 

Tarantula

Arachnobaron
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Well most people here thinks that S. gigantea is the largest pede. And noone have ever heard of S. galapagoensis... Its not a very well known species.. I'll think thats the answer to you question..

Btw Im not saying that galapagoensis can grow to 20"+...
 

Galapoheros

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MetalDragon_boy said:
I belive most peoble want to see a pic of a tortoise large as a Fiat Panda rather than a centipede that is 25"... ;)
This could very well be the the lack of pics problem. If the story was true, the centipede got whacked up in the story. Doesn't sound like pede pictures are of that much interest over there if that's how the animal is being treated. He said he saw 10 that week. If it's common there, the pedes may lose some of their shock value, ..why take a pic? Also, most people, even some people that call themselves naturalists see a scorp, spider or centipede and see 'ugly' and danger so they just stay away from it as well as keeping their camera away because they don't want to see a picture of an ugly thing they saw. We bug people must be living in our own little bug world. I know the Galapagos Islands exist. I know people that have been to them....so they said..... haha. I'd like to go down there and check it out for 3 or 4 days. It could happen! I'm not doing anything right now. That'd be pretty cool. I don't like flying though. I do it. I just don't like it. Oh well, this subject keeps rolling out but nothing really changes does it... but there is an answer to this one!
 

Tarantula

Arachnobaron
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Yes that is what I'm talking about! I belive a 200ton turtle brings more tourists than a 25" centipede... ;)
 

Mike

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Hi,

I saw a show about the Galapagos Islands and they showed a
S.galapagoensis going over the rocks and the guys got close to it with a measure tape,it was 18 inches and thick as a garden hose....they make S.gigantea (spelling?) look small,no joke:eek: . I personally don't own a pede (because they scare the tar out of me) but I do find them very interesting. The pede was a solid black in color and very big.I wouldn't be suprised if it could hit 25 inches in length. It would be a very serious addition to any collection.

Mike
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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Mike said:
Hi,

I saw a show about the Galapagos Islands and they showed a
S.galapagoensis going over the rocks and the guys got close to it with a measure tape,it was 18 inches and thick as a garden hose....they make S.gigantea (spelling?) look small,no joke:eek: . I personally don't own a pede (because they scare the tar out of me) but I do find them very interesting. The pede was a solid black in color and very big.I wouldn't be suprised if it could hit 25 inches in length. It would be a very serious addition to any collection.

Mike
Cool! But there's our problem again. What show was it that you saw? When did you see it? What channel. I would think everyone interested on this forum would like to know what show, and when you saw it. Maybe we could look for a repeat of the show. Usually, more than one person on the forum saw the same show if it was about a good bug place like the Galapagos Islands. Maybe someone else will bring up that they saw the same show too. But still, so far, no "eyes on" that has been made available for most of us to look at. But TV programs like that are usually repeated or have short takes on websites. Can you remember the show?
 

bistrobob85

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People, please just post good references, that way nobody wont doubt anything...
 

Peter_Parker

Arachnobaron
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bistrobob85 said:
People, please just post good references, that way nobody wont doubt anything...
Awwhhhhhh, but if they did that, the discussion would be over! Instead of dragging on and on and on and on and onnnnnnnnnnnnnn....... {D lol, j/k
 

Mike

Arachnosquire
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Hi Again,

Like I said it was a while ago like 2-3 years ago and I think it was a National Geog, but not 100% certain. It was not a special on pedes or anything like that it was a show showing different inhabitants of the Islands. Anyways, I know what I saw was one big pede.
Mike
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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Mike said:
Hi Again,

Like I said it was a while ago like 2-3 years ago and I think it was a National Geog, but not 100% certain. It was not a special on pedes or anything like that it was a show showing different inhabitants of the Islands. Anyways, I know what I saw was one big pede.
Mike
Well, we haven't gotten anywhere. Maybe electrohippy will come up with the proof we're looking for through his friends that work on the Islands. Maybe he will encourage pictures from them. Will electrohippy pull through?! Come on electohippy!!!!:clap: :clap: :clap: .
 

Mike

Arachnosquire
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It would be cool to get a 100% accurate measurement of one. Lets hope he can.

Mike
 

Randolph XX()

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it's getting worse, even worse than big foot(at least they have footprint, photos, video clips), but all we have about this 20+" pede are just WORDSSSSSSS
 

danread

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I really don't think such large pedes are possible, have any of you actually measured out how big a 20" pede would be..... it's frickin massive! It's highly unlikely that the legs would be able to support such a huge body, and since invertebrates don't have lungs, it would be pretty much biologically impossible for such a large pede to exist in the modern era with the oxygen content we have in our atmosphere.

As other people have said, the galaopogos islands have been studied in great detail, there are a couple of biological research stations on the islands, so if there were these record breaking pedes present, don't you think there would be some photographic evidence present?

I've seen a couple of museum specimens of that had been stuffed and varnished that looked to be over 16", but in these cases if you look closely at the tergites, you can see that they have all been stretched out, in a live pede they tend to overlap slightly. I think the stuffing and preservation techniques can easily add 2-4" to a 12" S. gigantea

Scolopendra gigantea one of the largest active land living invertebrates alive at present, and i think that is about the maximum we will ever discover. Some of the larger tarantulas may have a higher body mass with a full stomach, but since they are sit and wait predators they have probably have lower oxygen requirements.

Cheers,
 

CopperInMyVeins

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danread said:
Scolopendra gigantea one of the largest active land living invertebrates alive at present, and i think that is about the maximum we will ever discover. Some of the larger tarantulas may have a higher body mass with a full stomach, but since they are sit and wait predators they have probably have lower oxygen requirements.

Cheers,
I agree with most of your post, and the size exaggeration that occur, but the largest land invertebrate is Birgus latro, which is much larger than any centipede or tarantula. Tarantulas are limited in size partly because of the reliance on the hydraulic pressure of their hemolymph for locomotion, other types of invertibrates don't have this limitation. The biggest limitation would probably be how to generate enough airflow in and out of the lung without an active respiratory system. Here's some more on Birgus latro, including a description of it's branchiostegal lung: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_crab
 

Galapoheros

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If electrohippy can't prove pedes in the upper teens exists by getting pics from people he says in knows over there, maybe he can at least get us some pics of some 12 inchers. I'd like to see new pics of this sp. It'd be nice to see some more photos instead of the same few I've seen on the net. Why aren't there more photos of them? I'd be one pede picture taking jesse if I went over there and saw pedes that were even 8 inches long. Ahhh, oh well, just not allot of pede interest out in the general public I guess.

The coconut crab info was pretty interesting.
 
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