en Scolopendra dehaani

Giant Vietnamese centipede
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Myriapoda
Class:	Chilopoda
Order:	Scolopendromorpha
Family:	Scolopendridae
Genus:	Scolopendra
Species:	S. dehaani
Binomial name
	Scolopendra dehaani; Brandt, 1840
Synonyms
	List Scolopendra subspinipes dehaani (Attems, 1930) ; ; Scolopendra arborea (Lewis, 1982), (Subjective, Siriwut W, Edgecombe GD,et al.(2016) ; Scolopendra childreni Newport, 1844 ; Scolopendra concolor Newport, 1845 ; Scolopendra inermis Newport, 1845 ; Scolopendra inermipes Koch, 1847 ; Scolopendra silhetensis Newport, 1845 ; Scolopendra lucasii Gervais, 1847 ; Scolopendra horrida Koch, 1847 ; Scolopendra limicolor Wood, 1861 ; Scolopendra bispinipes Wood, 1862 ; Scolopendra fissispina Koch, 1865 ; Scolopendra nudipes Tömösváry, 1885 ; Scolopendra foveolata Verhoeff, 1937 ;

Scolopendra dehaani, the giant Vietnamese centipede, is a large scolopendrid centipede found across Mainland Southeast Asia.^[2]^[3] It is also found in India, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.^[1]

Taxonomy

Scolopendra dehaani was originally named by Brandt in 1840, but was reclassified by Carl Attems in 1930 as a subspecies of Scolopendra subspinipes. A 2012 paper reclassified it as a separate species.^[1]

Morphology

Scolopendra dehaani is one of the largest centipedes in the genus Scolopendra, and some specimens have been found to reach or exceed 25 cm in length.^[2]^[4] It usually lives for five to six years.^[5] Specimens usually have brownish-orange tergites (the hard plates on the tops of the segments) and yellow . In a 2016 paper, the authors suggested S. dehaani has five distinct colour morphs: four were dichromatic, one other was monochromatic, and all were generally reddish, brown, or orange in coloration:


#	Head	Segments	Tergites	Antennae	Legs	Pleurites
1	Dark brown	Dark brown	Back border with dark band	Reddish-brown	Chestnut brown	Brownish
2	"Brown or yellowish orange"	"Brown or yellowish orange"	Back border with dark band	Yellowish orange	Dark Brown	Pale Grey
3	Reddish-brown	Reddish-brown	-	Reddish-brown	Yellowish, except 20th and ultimate legs, which are reddish-brown.	Brownish
4	Bright red		Back border with dark band	Yellow or bright orange	Yellowish, except 20th and ultimate legs, which are reddish.	Orange
5	Cherry red	Cherry red	Back border with dark band	Reddish or orange	Reddish	Orange

^[4]

Diet

Scolopendra dehaani usually preys on smaller arthropods such as insects, spiders, and vinegaroons, but they have been found eating small snakes and other vertebrates, including, in one observation, a tree frog.^[6]^[5]^[2]^[7]