{{Short description|Order of centipedes}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Female centipede with eggs.jpg | image_caption = ''[[Scolopendra ovitora]]'' guarding her eggs | taxon = Scolopendromorpha | subdivision_ranks = Families | subdivision = * [[Cryptopidae]] * [[Mimopidae]] * [[Plutoniumidae]] * [[Scolopendridae]] * [[Scolopocryptopidae]] | type_species = ''[[Scolopendra morsitans]]'' <ref>{{Cite web |title=Chilobase |url=https://chilobase.biologia.unipd.it/ |website= University of Padua |access-date=2022-05-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Shelley|first1=R|first2=G|last2=Edwards|first3=Amazonas|last3=Chagas Jr|year=2005|title=Introduction of the Centipede ''Scolopendra morsitans'' L., 1758, into Northeastern Florida, the First Authentic North American Record, and a Review of Its Global Occurrences (Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae: Scolopendrinae)|work=Entomological News|volume=116|pages=39–58}}</ref> | type_species_authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]] }}
'''Scolopendromorpha''' (from [[Ancient Greek]] [[wikt:σκόλοψ|σκόλοψ]] (''skólops''), meaning "thorn", [[wikt:ἔντερον|ἔντερον]] (''énteron''), meaning "earthworm", and [[wikt:μορφή|μορφή]] (''morphḗ''), meaning "form") is an order of [[centipede]]s also known as '''tropical centipedes'''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Proute |first=Jenelle |date=2017 |title=Scolopendra gigantea (Giant Centipede) |url=https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Scolopendra_gigantea%20-%20Giant%20Centipede.pdf |website=The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago}}</ref> or '''bark centipedes.'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bark Centipedes - Encyclopedia of Life |url=https://eol.org/pages/6370 |access-date=2022-12-30 |website=eol.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Order Scolopendromorpha - Bark Centipedes |url=https://bugguide.net/node/view/23/bgpage |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=bugguide.net}}</ref> This order includes about 700 species in five families. These centipedes are found nearly worldwide, with tropical and subtropical regions providing the richest diversity in species.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last1=Bonato |first1=Lucio |title=The Myriapoda. Volume 1 |last2=Edgecombe |first2=Gregory D. |last3=Zapparoli |first3=Marzio |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |isbn=978-90-04-18826-6 |editor-last=Minelli |editor-first=Alessandro |location=Leiden |pages=363–443 [392–393] |chapter=Chilopoda – Taxonomic overview |oclc=812207443}}</ref> This order includes the only known amphibious centipedes, ''[[Scolopendra cataracta]]'', ''[[Scolopendra paradoxa]]'', and ''[[Scolopendra alcyona]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bates |first=M. |date=26 June 2016 |title='Horrific' First Amphibious Centipede Discovered |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/amphibious-centipede-discovered-laos-scolopendra-cataracta-new-species/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160626122234/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/amphibious-centipede-discovered-laos-scolopendra-cataracta-new-species/ |archive-date=June 26, 2016 |access-date=1 July 2016 |publisher=[[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Siriwut |first1=W. |last2=Edgecombe |first2=G. D. |last3=Sutcharit |first3=C. |last4=Tongkerd |first4=P. |last5=Panha |first5=S. |year=2016 |title=A taxonomic review of the centipede genus Scolopendra Linnaeus, 1758 (Scolopendromorpha, Scolopendridae) in mainland Southeast Asia, with description of a new species from Laos |journal=[[ZooKeys]] |issue=590 |pages=1–124 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.590.7950 |pmc=4926625 |pmid=27408540 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |last=Holmes |first=O. |date=1 July 2016 |title=Giant swimming, venomous centipede discovered by accident in world-first |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/01/giant-swimming-venomous-centipede-found-south-east-asia |access-date=1 July 2016 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref name="Zootaxa">{{Cite web |last=Sho |first=T. |date=12 April 2021 |title=A new amphibious species of the genus Scolopendra Linnaeus, 1758 (Scolopendromorpha, Scolopendridae) from the Ryukyu Archipelago and Taiwan |url=https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4952.3.3 |access-date=2022-01-10 |website=Biotaxa}}></ref>
== Description == The centipedes in this order are [[wikt:epimorphic|epimorphic]], hatching with a full complement of segments.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Fusco|first=Giuseppe|date=2005|title=Trunk segment numbers and sequential segmentation in myriapods|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1525-142X.2005.05064.x|journal=Evolution & Development|language=en|volume=7|issue=6|pages=608–617|doi=10.1111/j.1525-142X.2005.05064.x|pmid=16336414|s2cid=21401688|issn=1525-142X|url-access=subscription}}</ref> They usually possess 21 or 23 trunk segments with the same number of paired legs. The number of leg pairs is fixed at 21 for most species in this order and fixed at 23 for the remaining species, except for two species with intraspecific variation: ''[[Scolopendropsis bahiensis]]'', which has 21 or 23 leg pairs, and ''[[Scolopendropsis duplicata|S. duplicata]]'', which has 39 or 43 leg pairs.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Minelli|first=Alessandro|date=2020|title=Arthropod segments and segmentation – lessons from myriapods, and open questions|url=http://opuscula.elte.hu/PDF/Tomus51_S2/Op_%20Minelli_Arthropod_segmentation.pdf|journal=Opuscula Zoologica|volume=51|issue=S2 |pages=7–21|doi=10.18348/opzool.2020.S2.7|s2cid=226561862}}</ref> Species in this order have flattened bodies ranging from 9 mm to 30 cm in length. Colors vary but can be vivid sometimes. Antennae are usually gradually attenuated{{technical inline|reason=What does "attenuated" mean in this context?|date=April 2026}} and have from 14 to 34 segments (but usually have 17 to 21 segments).<ref name=":12" />
== Families == The order comprises the five families [[Cryptopidae]], [[Scolopendridae]], [[Mimopidae]], [[Scolopocryptopidae]], and [[Plutoniumidae]]. Nearly all species in the family Scolopendridae have four ocelli ([[Simple eye in invertebrates|simple eyes]]) on each side of the head, and the genus ''[[Mimops]]'' (family Mimopidae) features a pale area often considered an ocellus on each side of the head, whereas the other three families are blind.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Species in the family Scolopocryptopidae have 23 leg-bearing segments, whereas species in all other families in this order have only 21 leg-bearing segments (with the exception of the genus ''[[Scolopendropsis]]'' in Scolopendridae).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Edgecombe |first1=Gregory D. |last2=Giribet |first2=Gonzalo |date=2007 |title=Evolutionary Biology of Centipedes (Myriapoda: Chilopoda) |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.ento.52.110405.091326 |journal=Annual Review of Entomology |volume=52 |pages=151–170|doi=10.1146/annurev.ento.52.110405.091326 |pmid=16872257 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Vahtera|first1=Varpu|last2=Edgecombe|first2=Gregory D.|last3=Giribet|first3=Gonzalo|date=2012|title=Evolution of blindness in scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha): insight from an expanded sampling of molecular data|journal=Cladistics|language=en|volume=28|issue=1|pages=4–20|doi=10.1111/j.1096-0031.2011.00361.x|pmid=34856735|s2cid=84329980|issn=1096-0031|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Jiang|first1=Chao|last2=Bai|first2=Yunjun|last3=Shi|first3=Mengxuan|last4=Liu|first4=Juan|date=2020-12-05|title=Rediscovery and phylogenetic relationships of the scolopendromorph centipede Mimops orientalis Kraepelin, 1903 (Chilopoda): a monotypic species of Mimopidae endemic to China, for more than one century|url=https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/51461/|journal=ZooKeys|language=en|issue=932|pages=75–91|doi=10.3897/zookeys.932.51461|pmid=32476974|pmc=7239954|issn=1313-2970|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Benavides |first1=Ligia R. |last2=Jiang |first2=Chao |last3=Giribet |first3=Gonzalo |date=2021-09-01 |title=Mimopidae is the sister group to all other scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha): a phylotranscriptomic approach |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00502-2 |journal=Organisms Diversity & Evolution |language=en |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=591–598 |doi=10.1007/s13127-021-00502-2 |s2cid=239688370 |issn=1618-1077|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
{{Portal|Arthropods|left=yes}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q1201093}}
[[Category:Myriapod orders]] [[Category:Scolopendromorpha| ]]