this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2024
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Science Memes

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legs to die for (mander.xyz)
submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 58 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata

Commonly known as a house or carpet centipede.

The drawing is pretty accurate.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I've encountered these guys all my life. They are mostly small skittering puffy-stretches at a glance, but sometimes they can look like their red headed larger and snake-eating relatives at 4-5cm lengths.

They are extremely soft to the touch, as if a very light breeze just brushed off your arm hair. What I didn't know is that they are like cats in this behaviour:

House centipedes have been observed to groom their legs by curling around and grooming them with their forcipules.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Forcipules are the modified, pincer-like, front legs of centipedes that are used to inject venom into prey. They are the only known examples of front legs acting as venom injectors.

Thank goodness

Also the image is

cursed:

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

They are extremely soft to the touch W H A T?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Its small forcipules have difficulty penetrating

Aww it’s okay, lil Scucoleo

Thems “silverfish” or naw?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Naw, silverfish look like this.