A closer look at Scolopendra sp. "gigantea/white leg"

[micheldied]

Exactly. Do you think they will be their own species soon?

I'd rather speculate off the web. People believe anything these days and it's difficult to keep inaccurate information contained.

 

[Scolopendro]

@CHLee ! Thanks for the info! Can you please post in which months there is dry season in this northwestern Peru habitat?

 

[CHLee]

@CHLee ! Thanks for the info! Can you please post in which months there is dry season in this northwestern Peru habitat?

May-September

 

[Ghost in Souls]

May-September

Hi so idk if you are still alive but how did you determine the gender of the lede from that picture? My understanding is that if it’s a male it will have those ‘spikes’ protruding but I suppose that’s not the case with white legs, so which part of the sexual organ tells you it’s a male?

 

[Brewser]

Hi so idk if you are still alive

Still Onboard.

 

[Arachnopotamus Rex]

With all the recent hype with the Peruvian imports into the US, lets take a closer look at one of the peruvian big 4, the one sold as Scolopendra gigantea "white leg/amazonian giant" in the hobby.

View attachment 261351
7-9 glabrous antenna segments, this increases with age, pedelings start out with 4 of them View attachment 261353
4+4 big teeth on the teethplates
View attachment 261354

margination starting on tergite 3 (1/3rd of the tergite) with tergite 4 and onwards being fully marginated View attachment 261355
legs 19 and 20 with 4 dorso apical prefemoral spines, increases with age with mature specimens having 5 View attachment 261356
14 dorsomedial spines on the prefemurs of the terminal legs View attachment 261357
9-10 spines on the ventral side of the terminal leg prefemurs View attachment 261358
coxopleural process with 8 spines, female View attachment 261359
male gonopods, spinning organ clearly seen
View attachment 261360


what I have observed, spines on the terminal legs vary between specimens, with regrown legs sometimes having spines way below the average number.
majority of their traits match the description of shelleys (2000) scolopendra gigantea but the localities do not match and are far apart, with the black gigantea from venezuela and trinidad and the brown gigantea from colombia, with the latter two being found mostly along coastal forests. the peruvian "white leg" being more inland.
Habitat
from collecting data and natural habitat observations, their habitat is unlike what people usually think (warm and humid tropical rainforest) it is actually quite the opposite. Less tree cover and more grasses, with distinct wet and dry seasons. Will withhold from disclosing actual collecting locations but they are found in the Northwest of Peru

I'll be doing a couple more posts on the other peruvian big 3 and the hispaniola giant as well in the near future.

These pictures are amazing, what camera did you use?