Color and behaviour variations, web browsing for diversity investigation

[LeFanDesBugs]

Hey guys,
I had 3 thread ideas but I decided to make only one, in an effort to avoid flooding this section lol

I've been searching on the internet for pictures of centipedes from all over the world. Just type centipede [location] on google images and some interesting results should pop up. Those are often pics shot by tourists on trips to different exotic locations. Flickr is a true gold mine when it comes to invert pics as well.. centipedes are no exception. I guess it could work for almost anything
iSpot nature has also been an unreplaceable source of pictures..
Here are some interesting results:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zaidi...cbCv-dJwQhR-fTgQuZ-SMFfNF-bk9nnp-XaXss1-ndmS8

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21921...v6kG-TLTB1h-qA1dem-dvBxzc-7RCVQH-9B36ZM-Kg6mA --> this one looks like my borneo black sp

https://www.ispotnature.org/communi...ew/observation/656216/feisty-tiger-centipede-

Feel free to share any good sources of info..

Also, a few years ago I stumbled upon this pic on flickr: I always found this hainanum to be super black, at least compared to those on youtube, or even mine. On the other hand, there's this one:

As you can see, the whole body has a way lighter tone. (it's not in premolt as far as I can tell, but I might be wrong)
My point is that there seems to be a lot of variation in this species' coloration. Do you think it's a locality difference or just a difference from one individual to the other, even without geographical separation?

Last but no least, I noted strange behavioural patterns with my E.trigonopodus "blue ring".First, it is VERY agressive when disturbed. It swings its body left and right, without even trying to escape. I've had another specimen in the past, and it did not do that at all. I find it interesting as I'm considering the possibility of it being some kind of sequela from a violent capture or an unfortunate encounter with a predator of some sort, although the pede doesn't look like it was harmed (no regrown legs, no missing terminals..) I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
Moreover, E.trigonopodus is the only species that created wide and open chambers under rocks in my care. Are those pedes known to be hardcore burrowers?

 

[LeFanDesBugs]

Bumping this to the top as it only remained there for a few seconds lol

 

[Scoly]

E.trigonopodus are hardcore burrowers, yes!

Colour variation within a same centipede species is very common, and from what I can tell, seems mostly/always locality based (although some locations may contain multiple colour varieties). Centipedes do change colour as they age initially, and when coming up to a moult, possibly in response to environmental conditions like some tarantulas. I'm tempted to say that two hainanum photos you found are so different as to be different localities, and you're unlikely to have an adult specimen undergo a change from what you see in photo 1 to photo 2 or vice versa, but then again I had a WC Aphonopelma seemani go from that shade of brown to almost jet black on it first moult in captivity.

The variation between those two specimens is nothing extraordinary. You get hainanum without stripes, and possibly other variations. E.trigonopodus also exist in "blue ring", "blue leg", "yellow leg" and "niger (locality)" colour forms and possibly more.

Interestingly, many colour variations show up in multiple species which surely diverged millions of years ago, like black body, red head, and yellow legs.

 

[LeFanDesBugs]

Here in france we have a rare form of S.cingulata that has a jet black body and bright red legs. They look awesome but I never took the time to do some research and get to their location. If I do get one, I promise I'll post photos
I've seen pics of a variant of E.rubripes that looks exactly like a trigonopodus blue ring, but that lives in Australia! (thx @Staehilomyces )
And when you think about it, our favourite species like the jewels or jade leg are anomalies considering the coloration of a vast majority of the other species.

 

[Staehilomyces]

In Australia we get an enormous amount of variation within species. For example, with Ethmostigmus rubripes, there is variation in size, shape, colour and behaviour. For starters, there are short-legged and long-legged variants. The short-legged forms include the half green/tiger morph and the brown morph. They are typically burrowers that aren't seen very often on the surface (both of mine are pet holes in the best sense of the word). They typically max out at around 15cm. The longer legged forms include the tiger, green, Kuranda blue-leg, and black-headed variant. They are quite active in comparison to the short-legged rubripes, spending more time on the surface, and can reach 25cm in length in some instances. They are also typically more aggressive than their short-legged counterparts.
In addition, Scolopendra morsitans exhibits enormous variation, especially in colour, though also in size. Our largest variant appears to be our standard red-headed one, which resembles its African equivalent save for the green tinge to its legs. They can get to about 15cm long. Some of our other morsitans variants are much smaller, often falling short of 10cm.

 

[LeFanDesBugs]

Maybe the hostile conditions of Australia (predators etc) encourage such diversity?
By the way don't you have those stunning red morsitans in QS?

 

[Staehilomyces]

Yeah, we have those. They're up North QLD, in slightly drier conditions than the E. rubripes.

 

[LeFanDesBugs]

Wouldn't you want to get some? Would be a cool addition

 

[Staehilomyces]

I'd love to. At the moment, I've got my nice big rubripes to keep me busy. I think I'll have to get my mother on board with having more pedes in the house first.

 

[Staehilomyces]

Besides, the centipede hobby isn't very big in Australia. We may have great pedes, but we don't have many keepers/breeders. Most Australian invert keepers are more into tarantulas, scorpions and insects. That's another reason I want to get that YT channel up: to show most invert keepers who bypass pedes what they're missing.

 

[LeFanDesBugs]

Yup.. I hope we're gonna get somewhat big