another mystery pede pic

[Galapoheros]

Just posting another pic of a pede found out in w tx to see if there are any new ID opinions out there. This pede has never turned down food. It has a diff personality than other local sp I've had. Kind of defensive. Kind of looks gravid. Maybe just too many crickets but I don't feed it often.

 

[cacoseraph]

there are three families of centipedes in the USA as of the Synopsis by Shelly, 2002.

Scolopocryptopidae has 23 leg bearing segments and no ocelli (eyes). Not this guy.

Cryptopidae has 21 LBS and no ocelli. Not this guy.

Scolopendridae has 21 LBS and has ocelli present. This guy.

 

[cacoseraph]

Family Scolopendridae has two subfamilies in USA

if the spiracles (breathing holes located on the sidewall/pleural membrane) are operculate (in a nonspecific application that would mean having a lid, i don't think it quite means that here), with tripartite valves it is Scolopendrinae. these spiracles tend to look like triangular openings with "stuff" in them that you can't really see into all that well. your guy.


if the spiracles are not operculate and do not possess valvular partitions it is Otostigminae. these spiracles tend to look like open holes into the interior of the cent. not your guy.




oh yeah, these definitions and stuff aren't necessarily for gala, but more for those who want to play along at home =P

 

[Androctonus_bic]

Can be any color mutation on a USA well ID scolopendrinae? Just my suggest.

Cheers
Carles

 

[James H]

Just from the size of the cricket my guess falls with S.viridis. I have found them around arizona for emerald green to blue to tan with a blue/brown head and even one that was almost black.

 

[Galapoheros]

Here's an old pic I found showing about 11 smooth antennomeres from what I can see. I'll take some more pics. I've found 3 like this over the years out there. I got this one from someone else that found it out there. It was weird because I was telling him about the weird pedes and he had just gotten back from there looking for stuff and said he just found one of those. He's not real into pedes but knows a lot about the stuff. So anyway, he practically gave it to me. I just put it in a clear plastic bag and measured it. When it seems relaxed, it is just over 5 inches (last tergite to head).

 

[8+)]

Looks like S. polymorpha sans the dark stripes to me. caco, you mentioned a hypopigmented one that you found, how does it look in comparison?

 

[Steven]

judging on the antennae i would also say Sc.polymorpha

nice find !

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

S.polymorpha is the only thing it could be at present but if someone does phylogenetic studies on SW centipedes it would be interesting to see how many species are created. There's close to twenty Timema in CA when they used to just think there were a few species (of course only one or two taxonomists can identify them and the exact collection location, multiple adults and foodplant species are required for an ID).

 

[Galapoheros]

The antenna do look like S. polymorpha. I hadn't noticed that. Here's a pic of it compared to the local polymorpha I usually find around here (if even the other one is a polymorpha,... getting confusing for me). The one at the bottom of the pic is a typical adult I see around here. The thing that is getting me right now is that if these are both polymorpha, why do I only find ones that look either like the one at the top of the pic or the one at the bottom, nothing in between. Well, I hadn't considered polymorpha because of the typical ones I've seen around here. But yea, I see what you mean now. I'm not one to dive into the ID books like some of you, so if there are better pics I could take of it, let me know and I'll try. From what Elytra and Antenna said, it makes me think they know there is a confusing group of different sp out there so they just bunch them up and call them polymorpha until "they" get to them(?).

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

In many animals with different colorations there are no gradations - one color or the other. Many centipedes are either banded or not banded and there usually is no halfway form. Even if yours has offspring and they all end up the same color as the adult it doesn't mean it's an isolated color form. I don't know if anyone can guess how phylogenetic analysis of our native Scolopendra will be interpreted, it would be interesting to see a study on the different heros subspecies. However, that research could be decades or more in the future, if it's ever done.

 

[Galapoheros]

OK, this or that, depending on whether or not they have the gene for the feature. I can't help but let the size difference make me wonder too. I haven't seen the banded form around here get anywhere close to the size of the orange pede in the pic. Not that they aren't out there, but I've done a lot of hunting around for many years. The banded pede in the pic is a typical adult sized pede. But, these two were found about 200 miles away from each other which could explain that I guess, if they are the same species. Interesting. Thanks for the comments from everybody.

 

[cacoseraph]

oh duh, i done frongot about my Nuprin (little, yellow, different) pede

zoom

zoom

wonder if they are like, the same thing... whatever that thing is. mine is 2.5-3"BL

 

[Galapoheros]

What the diddly! Did you find that?

 

[cacoseraph]

What the diddly! Did you find that?

yeah dude. i caught it in the wastelands by where i used to live. needless to say, i am pretty freaking jazzed about it!

 

[cacoseraph]

more nuprin pics

more nuprin pics

zoom

zoom

zoom

zoom

 

[Galapoheros]

Hey Caco. Do you have any range info on that pede? Are they known to be in Texas? Well I still have this orange pede and it's looking pretty beefy. Something is about to happen, don't know what though. The centipede expert wanted me to send him a few so he could take a look at them. Maybe I'll be able to do that but only wishful thinking right now. I just measured it. It's a little over 5". It's been in the same spot for a few months. In the mean time, the S. h. castaneiceps ate the eggs. I think I got too confident. It seemed so easy last year. Maybe they weren't fertile. No big deal though. I was just going to get rid of them, let them back into the wild or hand them over to somebody that needed them for research. That's a cool pede. What kind of beetle larvae is it attacking there?

 

[cacoseraph]

Hey Caco. Do you have any range info on that pede? Are they known to be in Texas? Well I still have this orange pede and it's looking pretty beefy. Something is about to happen, don't know what though. The centipede expert wanted me to send him a few so he could take a look at them. Maybe I'll be able to do that but only wishful thinking right now. I just measured it. It's a little over 5". It's been in the same spot for a few months. In the mean time, the S. h. castaneiceps ate the eggs. I think I got too confident. It seemed so easy last year. Maybe they weren't fertile. No big deal though. I was just going to get rid of them, let them back into the wild or hand them over to somebody that needed them for research. That's a cool pede. What kind of beetle larvae is it attacking there?

range for which?

that is some random beetle larve. i have these little beetles that live in my roach cages. i feed the larva and beetles off. they make great little feeders. they were an "infection" species. dunno what kind.

 

[Gsc]

I had a conversation with a fellow Texas invert hunter yesterday and out of the blue he brought up the "flesh" clolored 'pedes out in west texas... I have a locality to go look for them...he was under the belief that they are NOT a scolopendra... pretty cool 'pedes... I don't know if I'll get a chance to go that far out west this year to look for them... Interesting...

 

[cacoseraph]

I had a conversation with a fellow Texas invert hunter yesterday and out of the blue he brought up the "flesh" clolored 'pedes out in west texas... I have a locality to go look for them...he was under the belief that they are NOT a scolopendra... pretty cool 'pedes... I don't know if I'll get a chance to go that far out west this year to look for them... Interesting...

i'm being silly. i have Shelley's NA/USA centipede book but i haven't keyed them out. i think i know all the stuff you need to know, and if not i can always post a question someone can either answer or we all can sort of like, muddle through. heh.

edit:

oh yeah, flesh colored pedes sound AWESOME! there was a crazy color very very pale centipede some dude out of 29 palms area or something like was catching. they looked BAD. very translucenty and stuff... i want to go out their but my POS car wouldn't make it there... and back. and those pedes need to make it back with me