A centipede in communal setup got paralyzed

[50centipede]

I saw one of my S. mutilans in a communal setup was out from the hide and moving around strangely.
When I looked closely the part near its head was stiff and it didn't react well when touched.
After doing some search I realized there's nothing much I can do so I just sprayed some water to it and expected the worst.

Few days later I found it hiding under a cork bark, and to my surprise it looked better!
The next day I saw its upper part fully recovered and its movement came back to normal.

My assumption is that it was bitten by a co-centipede around the head and the venom temporally caused paralysis, but its enzymes repelled the venom in a few days.

I'm just glad it recovered, which I thought was not possible, and amazed by the sort of immune system centipedes have.

 

[Bob Lee]

Centipedes are pretty much immune and can recover from venom right?
That's what gives them the upper hand when fighting with scorpions and stuff.

 

[NYAN]

Centipedes are pretty much immune and can recover from venom right?

Nope. I don’t believe any animal is immune to all venom.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

Centipedes are pretty much immune and can recover from venom right?
That's what gives them the upper hand when fighting with scorpions and stuff.

Centipedes can be resilient to venoms but we don't know their limits per a species. I am not too keen on centipede anatomy but there may be vitals that if directly envenomated may prove more fatal too.

 

[50centipede]

A baron and a king and a knight... this thread is getting medieval

 

[Bob Lee]

Centipedes can be resilient to venoms but we don't know their limits per a species. I am not too keen on centipede anatomy but there may be vitals that if directly envenomated may prove more fatal too.

I once saw a house centipede kill a P.transvaalicus that's around the same size. It got stung multiple times by the scorpion but went back to normal after a few hours. I would say that's really really resilient

 

[Bob Lee]

Nope. I don’t believe any animal is immune to all venom.

Yeah I'm sure something like Androctonus can kill a centipede, but for the most part they don't seem to be too bothered by venom.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

I once saw a house centipede kill a P.transvaalicus that's around the same size. It got stung multiple times by the scorpion but went back to normal after a few hours. I would say that's really really resilient

Woah! Scutigeromorpha appear so fragile.

Yeah I'm sure something like Androctonus can kill a centipede, but for the most part they don't seem to be too bothered by venom.

There are venomous animals such as rear fanged snakes that specialize in preying on centipedes despite the fact of their LD50 may be very very low. Yet they can kill a centipede quicker than a small viperidae such as Sistrurus can. So it may not necessarily take a scorpion as venomous as Androctonus to kill a large centipede but one with a proper cocktail of venom components to prey upon and/or defend against centipedes.

Here is a thread I created in the scorpion forum:

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/an...ous-prey-item-nearly-twice-its-length.325368/

EDIT: I accidentally uploaded the same research paper page I intended only to upload once. Sorry.

 

[Scoly]

The centipede you see in my profile photo got bitten by a female during a pairing attempt, and died the next day. But the previous pairing attempt he bit the female (which this species does) and put a bit too much venom and knocked her out. So they are not "immune" to their own venom, but can certainly be affected by it and not die, so your theory could well be right.

Having said that, a number of my mutilans got head paralysis, which was simply mycosis, but I didn't know it at the time, so worth keeping an eye on that.

 

[Bill S]

.... despite the fact of their LD50 may be very very low.

LD50's are generally evaluated in terms of a specific prey. An animal's LD50 might be high against mammals but low against fish, or vice versa. And by the way - a low LD50 means it takes a low dose of the venom to kill 50% of the victims. A high LD50 means it takes a high dose to kill 50% of the victims. So a low LD50 is more powerful than a high LD50. High LD50 = low venom potency, Low LD50 = high venom potency.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

LD50's are generally evaluated in terms of a specific prey. An animal's LD50 might be high against mammals but low against fish, or vice versa. And by the way - a low LD50 means it takes a low dose of the venom to kill 50% of the victims. A high LD50 means it takes a high dose to kill 50% of the victims. So a low LD50 is more powerful than a high LD50. High LD50 = low venom potency, Low LD50 = high venom potency.

Oh yeah, of course that makes sense.

But no I meant low on the LD50 table not low mg/kg measurements.