The New Neotropical Companion

Some Scary- looking Invertebrates

You are apt to see some large and rather intimidating-

looking creatures scurrying about the rain forest floor or

tending webs along the trail. Here are just a few of them.

Centipedes

You might recall the millipedes, discussed in chapter 11.

They are slow and cannot really harm you. This is not

true of centipedes, which belong to the arthropod class

Chilopoda and are not closely related to millipedes (plate

16- 103). Centipedes are fast and can bite you, and the

bite is not pleasant. They are well equipped with poison

glands, and they use them. So be careful. Not convinced?

Well, there is one species, the Amazonian Giant

Centipede (Scolopendra gigantea) that reach lengths of up

to 35 cm (nearly 14 in). That gets your attention. Usually

most active at night, the giant centipede chows down on

sleeping birds, mice, frogs, and lizards. It is reputed to

enter bat caves, climb the walls, and capture and devour

bats. But that is the good news, so to speak. Centipedes are

normally nocturnal and so do not present serious threats

to humans. But if you do get bitten by a centipede, you

will suffer intense pain at the site of the bite accompanied

by considerable swelling, plus the possibility of nausea

and fever. Centipedes are best avoided.

Whipscorpions and True Scorpions

It is common in the Neotropics to come upon a

creature with a wide and somewhat flattened body and

long legs (plate 16- 104). It looks scary. Many people

take it to be some sort of scorpion. But it isn’t. It is

Plate 16- 103. This centipede is best observed and not

touched. Photo by Dennis Paulson.

Plate 16- 105. Scorpions are arachnids that vary from large (just

over 10 cm/4 in) to very small (2.5cm/1 in). They occupy all

habitats from deserts to forests and sometimes enter dwellings.

All scorpions have a poison gland at the tail tip and are adept

at using it. Potency varies— some species have much more

powerful venom than others— and large scorpions are not

necessarily more venomous than small species. Indeed, some of

the smallest species pack the greatest wallop. Scorpion stings

can be life threatening, and though such severity is rare, it is

best to leave all scorpions alone. Photo by Sean Williams.

Plate 16- 104. This is not a scorpion. It is a tailless whipscorpion,

a member of the arachnid order Amblypygi. Whipscorpions

are widely distributed from deserts to rain forests and are

common in the Neotropics. They do not have the stinging

capacity of true scorpions and are thus quite harmless. Photo

by Dennis Paulson.

chapter 16 from monkeys to tarantulas: endless eccentricities 363