Lots of pics and a few subjects to discuss...

clockworkorange

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Messages
26
I just received some asian centis... A few interesting things to see...

I've seen this pede in a previous thread opened by Steven. Any news since? Is this a malaysian jewel? Any info about its ID would be welcome...





There have been some discussions about feeding centis with clipped fangs. Even though i wasn't expecting clipped specimens, all my S. subspinipes subspinipes Java are like that. I feed them superworms that i cut open on the side. They just have to suck the guts out... Seems to work pretty well with all of them...





The fangs are clearly missing...



And here a few shots of a cherry legs going down on a defrosted pinky rat... The pede is about 18 cm.










Cheers

Mika
 

clockworkorange

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Messages
26
hehehe, this means something else, across the big water
:D Damn... why didn't I get that earlier??? :8o Here too it means something else! English is not my first language... bahh... you all understood what i meant... i hope!

By the way, i took some dna samples of the unidentified centipede. I ll sequence it with the subspinipes samples i m working on... We'll see if they re all closely related or if it s an undescribed sp... answer next week!
 

Arachnotized

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 5, 2007
Messages
57
Yes very nice pics indeed!! I am quite new to the centipede's..I was wondering...why would they clip their fangs off? Is it a precaution so that they don't bite when handled? :?
 

clockworkorange

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Messages
26
Yes very nice pics indeed!! I am quite new to the centipede's..I was wondering...why would they clip their fangs off? Is it a precaution so that they don't bite when handled? :?
Actually, centipedes have one particular use in South East Asia: fish food! They are bred or caught and their fangs are clipped before the animals are sold to fish shops. Centipedes are supposed to give shiny and healthy scales to arowana (or dragon) fishes, which are treasured by Chinese people all over Asia as they're supposed to bring prosperity and luck.

I would have prefered centipedes with fangs but the whole lot arrived as such...:(

By the way, I just come back from the lab (1 am a saturday nite...) and the mystery centipede with black body and orange legs has a DNA that seems to react differently than scolopendra subspinipes dehaani and sc. sub. subspinipes... Mmmm... so that means that it's not closely related to these... If anybody knows what species it is, I'd be very happy to hear about it! I didn't start morphometrics yet as i m raher busy with other specimens...

cheers,

Mika
 
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