# Centipede Anatomy: unique structure



## Professor T (Mar 16, 2004)

I just bought a copy of _Giant Centipedes: The Enthusiast's Handbook_ by Orin McMonigle. On page 4 he states maxillipedes are unique to centipedes. As a zoology teacher I know crayfish, a crustactean, has three pairs of maxillipedes. However, they are nothing like the vemon injectors of centipedes.

It then dawned on me the *term* maxillipede for centipedes is a huge problem. In Crustacea, maxillipedes are anatomically a mouth part. In centipedes "maxillipedes" are modified walking legs. 

Its like calling a scorpion's pinchers "chelipeds" instead of *pedipalps* . Chelipeds are the modified walking legs on a crayfish (their pinchers), and scorpion's pinchers are a mouth part (pedipalps). Anatomically of different origin.

Orin McMonigle did not start this confusion. Centipedes' venom injectors are commonly called "maxillipedes" in textbooks. In my opinion this is a poor practice because it is not a mouthpart.

I have seen an alternate name for the venom injector called "toxognatha", literally "toxic jaws". Again they are not jaws, thus a poor name.

Orin McMonigle is correct that the venom injectors in centipedes *are unique* to centipedes. Now we only need a unique name for the structure. I think it should be called a *Monigle* , after the guy that published it was a unique structure.


----------



## Steven (Mar 16, 2004)

Hey,... i just picked up a copy of that book this weekend,...
and to be honnest,... it contains some material i'm not following.
mainly about the "caging",... there's written a pede doesn't need a cage as wide as his total lenght,... it even recommends "round jars" for keeping pedes in.
for "escape-proof" caging that sounds good,... but i don't believe a pede is build with such a bodystructure to spend the rest of his live in small containers

don't know what others think about the "caging" methods described in the new book,... but i would like to know


----------



## Feri (Mar 16, 2004)

Hi,
Most mouthparts in insects (and in crustaceans) are modified legs too. The thing that confuses you may be that the maxillipedes of centipedes are more leg-like then for example the maxilla or the labium of insects or the maxillipede of crustaceans. The mouth organs of insects are part of the head as the segments bearing them have accreted so tightly that you can not identify the segments themselves. (As far as I can remember the head of the insects has developed by accretion of six segments) . The maxillipedes of crustaceans have become well developed mouthparts. The maxillipedes of centipedes are on the first segment behind the head and it is visible that they were once walking legs but the difference between these organs and other arthropod mouthparts is not so big as it seems as all of them once were legs. And sometimes anatomical names are not logical. Different people study different animals and give different organs the same name just because their appearance or function of the organ they study is similar to an organ of an other taxa (such as maxilla of mammals and maxilla of insects). But I agree that the maxillipedes of centipedes and crustaceans are so different (venom of centipedes, segmentedness and "biramousness??" of crustacean maxillipedes) that they should have different scientific names.

Feri


----------



## Feri (Mar 16, 2004)

I haven't read this book, but the caging conditions you have described don't seem to be O.K.. Even if centipedes might survive (???) between these conditions, it isn't fair to keep animals in such a small cages.

Feri


----------



## danread (Mar 16, 2004)

So what is the book like, is it worth buying? Steven, where did you get your copy from, i cant find it for sale anywhere in Europe, did you have it shipped from the US?

Cheers,

Dan.


----------



## Steven (Mar 16, 2004)

Hey,..you can order it 
>>> here <<< 
but mostlikely you allready discoverd,... they don't have paypal  
I guess only a few copys are in Europe.
i've got mine trough Tom Larsen (the Danish guy)
the book contains some nice pictures of his pedes  

is it worth it ???

to be honnest,... i expected more of it,... 
it has basicly the same info you could find here on the boards,... =D 

But it's a good "guide" for keeping centipedes,... (except the caging topic  )

There's a "species" description list,..but that's basicly the same you'll find in Sandefers book,... so don't expect a full "taxonomy" database,...

i've bought it for only 10Euro,.. it's def. worth his price!


----------



## Code Monkey (Mar 16, 2004)

This reminds me of a paper in the latest A. Arachnology journal: part of reads "a proposal to define *nubbins* and tartipores" for 2 types of specialised spinnerets used by lycosidae to anchor their egg sac.


----------



## danread (Mar 17, 2004)

Thanks for the link, i did see that one already, but i dont realy want to send off a cheque, want for it to arrive, cash in, and then wait for the book to be sent so far back! Maybe it will get published in Europe at some point, but as you said, its not going to tell most of us anything new. I was thinking of geting it so i could look at the pictures!

Cheers,

Dan.


----------

