As If Centipedes Weren’t Creepy Enough: A New Species Discovered Swims and Walks on Water Too

Just when you thought the world was scary enough, think again.

Scientists recently discovered the very first amphibious centipede in the world. And the size is not that of the usual centipedes you would chance upon in the garden or in the shower drain. This monster can grow up to 7.9 inches or 20 centimeters long and belongs to the giant centipede family Scolopendra.

Like all other centipedes and monsters in your childhood, this creature is carnivorous and venomous. Featured last month in a ZooKeys publication, this amphibious centipede apparently only lives in Southeast Asia, so the rest of you folks could breathe again and calm your racing hearts.

This centipede had actually already been discovered in 2001 by London National History Museum entomologist George Beccaloni during his honeymoon in Thailand. What was supposed to be an nice afternoon of looking for bugs turned horrifically when he chanced upon a giant centipede with long legs and a horrifying dark-green color. When he lifted the rock that the centipede was hiding under, it quickly escaped into the stream and plunged underwater into a rock, instead of the forest.

This fueled Beccaloni's curiosity, who after quite difficulty, was able to capture the centipede in a large water container. As soon as the centipede was in the jar, apparently, it immediately swam powerfully "like an eel" and dove to the bottom, with horizontal undulations of the body. When it was out of the jar, however, water almost immediately rolled off of its body, leaving it completely dry. Beccaloni brought the specimen back to the museum, where after consultations and skeptical observations showed that it might not be amphibious, where it would sit in the collection for many years.

It wasn't until years later that Beccaloni's colleague Gregory Edgecombe and his Thai student Warut Siriwut described a new species of centipede. So far there had only been four specimens of the species found and studied, but from that the scientists were able to identify main characteristics of the creature.

Like all other kinds of centipedes, this new species is venomous. Although may not be fatal, bites from these big centipedes cause a seething, burning pain that can spread out your whole limb even from just a finger or toe bite.

To the scientists who made this horrific discovery, this news shouldn't scare the masses but make us revel in wonders of nature and what lies still unknown to us.