The South American Centipede Conundrum

[LawnShrimp]

Possibly some of the most famous centipedes in the hobby are the SA giant Scolopendra. For all their popularity, though, gigantea, galapagoensis, and viridicornis remain among the most morph-rich species, although these morphs do not differ terribly greatly from one another. This has been the source of misinformation, misunderstandings, and general confusion for as long as these centipedes have been available in the hobby.

This is my own compilation of pictures of these species. I make no attempt to classify these species and so will just label them as what they are most commonly known as. This is not terribly scientific, just something I made so that myself and others could see all of the different morphs together.
I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE PHOTOS, ALL RIGHTS GO TO OWNERS HERE ON ARACHNOBOARDS AND ELSEWHERE.

Scolopendra gigantea 'White Leg'
Scolopendra galapagoensis 'White Leg' (uncommon)

Note the uniformly colored antennae and fairly thin terminals. It is claimed these come from Peru.

Scolopendra gigantea 'Robusta'
Scolopendra virdicornis (unlikely)

It has a similar pattern to 'White Leg', as well as the thin terminals, deep ridges on the edges of the body tergites, and uniformly colored antennae. I'd say this and White Leg are most closely related, perhaps the same species. I call them both collectively "Pale Gigs."

Scolopendra galapagoensis 'Galapagos'

This is likely the true galapagoensis as it is from the Galapagos islands. It may have its own color morphs as both of these are (definitely) from different island in the archipelago. It is not commonly sold. Note the thin terminals that resemble those of the Pale Gigs (a relationship between these is possible but unlikely).

Scolopendra galapagoensis "Peru Dark Morph"
Scolopendra gigantea "Peru"

This is the most commonly available centipede labeled as galapagoensis. Michael Dixon's famed Helga was this type. Note proportionately short and thin terminals and very large, thick head. It is definitely different from the gracile Pale Gigs.

Scolopendra gigantea "Trinidad Dark Morph"

Collected by @Neil TW in Trinidad. He has made his own, far more scientific key to these similar species. I will link below.

Scolopendra gigantea "Venezuela"
Scolopendra galapagoensis "Venezuela"

This type appears to have very heavily pattered legs. The long, thin terminal legs also appear strangely bent outwards.

Scolopendra viridicornis
Scolopendra viridicornis nigra

Viridicornis has very fat terminals which are less heavily striped than the other dark, striped centipedes. It lives further south and does not get as large as the other species mentioned (or at least that's what I could find out).

Oddities...
Scolopendra spinipriva?

To me, this looks more like viridicornis...

Scolopendra spinipriva?

...and this like "Robusta", but note the thin and very short terminals. The anatomy here most looks like "Peru Dark Morph".

Scolopendra viridicornis

Labeled as viridicornis, this most resembles the Pale Gigs due to the thin terminals. There is no ringfurrow on this one though, which makes me think it is not from SA at all.

Scolopendra viridicornis

It looks somewhat like viridicornis. Brazil.

Good Resources:
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/no...gantea-complex-explained.290935/#post-2581766


Okay, that's all I could find. If you don't want your pictures here, post and I'll remove them.
I repeat, none of these pictures are mine.

If you have any pictures you'd like to post or any observations you want to make, feel free.

 

[Staehilomyces]

I think it's possible that the Island Galapagoensis was descended from Gigantea; after all, most Galapagos animals were descended from mainland animals.

 

[RTTB]

I found this thread to be very informative and useful.

 

[Staehilomyces]

These may also be worth noting:

S. viridicornis:


Giant centipede from Aruba, sometimes labeled as S. gigantea:


Colombian giant centipede:

 

[Staehilomyces]

Oh, and I think that the viridicornis you posted about not having a ring furrow was just in a different lighting. Here's one that looks exactly the same, and has a ring furrow (which I've highlighted).

 

[LawnShrimp]

Thanks for the extra photos!

I say "White Leg" and "Robusta" go together, S. g. "Peru" has some relation to that mysterious pale S. spinipriva and possibly S. sp. 'Venezuela'. S. viridicornis is anything with fat, spiny terminals. Galapagoensis could be its own species or related to the mainland "Peru". The S. sp. "Colombia" coloration suggests "Robusta", but it is more likely part of the "Peru" complex or is its own species. Species could also be separated by geographical boundaries such as the Andes (which @Neil TW notes). The actually-ringfurrowed-pseudo-viridicornis looks like "Colombia".

I probably made a whole bunch of errors there. The only thing that makes it easier to tell differences is simply by having pictures next to one another.

 

[CHLee]

Thanks for the extra photos!

I say "White Leg" and "Robusta" go together, S. g. "Peru" has some relation to that mysterious pale S. spinipriva and possibly S. sp. 'Venezuela'. S. viridicornis is anything with fat, spiny terminals. Galapagoensis could be its own species or related to the mainland "Peru". The S. sp. "Colombia" coloration suggests "Robusta", but it is more likely part of the "Peru" complex or is its own species. Species could also be separated by geographical boundaries such as the Andes (which @Neil TW notes). The actually-ringfurrowed-pseudo-viridicornis looks like "Colombia".

I probably made a whole bunch of errors there. The only thing that makes it easier to tell differences is simply by having pictures next to one another.

white leg and "robusta" are different things, note the number of smooth antennae segments, the robusta and the peru dark form you labelled it are also receptive towards each other during mating, while the white leg are not.
S. g. trinidad and S. g. venezuela are the same thing imo, they can be differentiated from the peru with the uniform colored antennae, and darker color in general, peru dark galapagoensis have half red and half black antennae and the membrane on the side of the body (forgot the exact term) is more light/grey color.
the sp colombia you labelled is most likely another form of gigantea, due to the number of smooth antennae segments, and are also found in venezuela and aruba.

 

[CHLee]

Scolopendra viridicornis

Labeled as viridicornis, this most resembles the Pale Gigs due to the thin terminals. There is no ringfurrow on this one though, which makes me think it is not from SA at all.

this one does have a ringfurrow, its just right behind the headplate, ssp nigra from guyana

 

[Staehilomyces]

Yeah, I already posted a pic of one with a visible furrow.

 

[CHLee]

Yeah, I already posted a pic of one with a visible furrow.

whoops i missed that

 

[Mastigoproctus]

Ok so lets clear this up, galapo and robusta are very close, but nothing like the Trinidad specimens. They react when attemped to mate though no cross has been accomplised. Trinidad and white leg dont react well to them and thr mating process is a tad different to my knowledge. Trinidad specimens can be feisty while the rest are pretty docile. Black gigantea are similar to main land specimens in a shore line national park facing Trinidad island (forgot the name atm, maybe Lee can chime in) but they havent made it into the hobby. This information is misleading, be aware people, I dont comment much these days as I'm sure everyon knows so take it as you will.

 

[Mastigoproctus]

Btw true viridicornis are not what trap and his EU friends sell, they are excessively hard to come by.

 

[Mastigoproctus]

Scolopendra galapagoensis white form, no one posted this.

 

[Staehilomyces]

You're back!!!

 

[LawnShrimp]

You're back!!!

He's back. On IG too. That Malaysian Jewel is quite something.

Ok so lets clear this up, galapo and robusta are very close, but nothing like the Trinidad specimens. They react when attemped to mate though no cross has been accomplised. Trinidad and white leg dont react well to them and thr mating process is a tad different to my knowledge. Trinidad specimens can be feisty while the rest are pretty docile. Black gigantea are similar to main land specimens in a shore line national park facing Trinidad island (forgot the name atm, maybe Lee can chime in) but they havent made it into the hobby. This information is misleading, be aware people, I dont comment much these days as I'm sure everyon knows so take it as you will.

[italics mine] Sorry if I wrote something wrong! I'm no scientist and I don't own any SA centipedes. I just wanted a gallery of each morph/species so that better informed people than I could make their own judgement (as you did) about the relationships between these species.

Thank you for picture of the pale galapo. It seems every morph has its own morph, and as the taxonomy gets more confusing, the centipedes get prettier...

 

[micheldied]

There's a lot wrong with the original post. No one calls S. viridicornis viridicornis "nigra", nigra is reserved for the darker subspecies which you just called Scolopendra viridicornis. All viridicornis display short stubby terminal legs, and a median keel that is tall and thick and does not fade much with age. The animals from Peru all have a median keel, but this fades to varying degrees as they grow. The orange striped one from Peru displays a median keel to adulthood, and even though it is thin and low, many people of a certain race insist it is viridicornis.

The "robusta" is what people in the hobby are calling viridicornis, even though they are from Peru and are not at all like viridicornis from the other side of the country where they were described. Robusta, in the hobby, is usually reserved for the larger, more blande looking one that you're calling spiniprava (second "spiniprava"). The terminals are not short, it's just the angle of the picture. There are two colorforms of "robusta" in the hobby, a darker one with very slight patterning and a lighter one that is very blande looking. These two morphs will mate and breed.

Anyone who has had white legs know that they look very different in build from anything else from Peru. They likely aren't gigantea at all, but they are not the same as anything else coming out of Peru.

The dark morph galapagoensis can be found on the coast of the mainland, and on the islands as well. The red leg galapagoensis is found on a few islands. These are likely closely related.

The brown gigantea from Aruba, Venezuala and Colombia are very similar in build to the black gigantea from Trinidad, and are likely variations of the same species. These have thicker terminals than anything from Peru, but not short like viridicornis.

Terminal leg spines on the SA giants are random in number and formation, and probably shouldn't be used for identifying them. They differ from individual to individual, and even the same specimen can have different spines on each leg. The most consistent identifying key seems to be the number of smooth segments on the antennae, as well as the number and formation of teeth on the tooth plates.

 

[CHLee]

Also to add
For Peru
white leg-7-9 smooth antennae segments
peru galapagoensis 6 smooth antennae segments
"robusta" light form 6 smooth
"dark robusta" what the hobby calls viricornis now-5 smooth segments
viridicornis and nigra from brazil and guyana have 4 smooth segments
brown gigantea from venezuela and colombia have 8-9
black gigantea from trinidad and venezuela have 8-9

i've had multiple specimens of each of the peru big 4 and the antennae segments seems to be constant, while the spines on the terminal legs as micheldied said are variable even on the same specimen, left and right legs have different numbers or patterns.

 

[LawnShrimp]

@micheldied You're right about terminal leg spines; they are unreliable methods for determining species.


Guess I opened the wrong can of centipedes. Sorry, friends, but I really had no idea what I was doing! Thanks for the helpful criticism of my original post. I was just using the names I found these pictures labeled as and my best judgement (which is not the best judgement) to determine species. I shouldn't have bothered with this thread.

 

[emplosion]

These are all very interesting observations. Is there any particular reason pedes don't seem to be as studied as other inverts.

 

[LawnShrimp]

These are all very interesting observations. Is there any particular reason pedes don't seem to be as studied as other inverts.

Well, the majority of the population is too busy with killing or running away from them, and the few scientists who work with venomous animals tend to specialize in scorpions, spider, or snakes. Even entomologists prefer specializing in insects and arachnids to myriapods, as those much more diverse groups have a greater overall use in today's society. However, recent studies of venom peptides from Scolopendra have proved to be painkillers or possible cancer drugs. But even then, taxonomy is not the main goal.