Scolopendra cingulata, the megarian banded centipede, is a member of Scolopendridae, a group that includes some of the largest centipedes in the world (S. gigantea may reach a length of up to 30 cm when fully grown). Scolopendra cingulata, however, is one of the smallest members of this clade at approximately 10-15 cm. The venom of S. cingulata is less toxic than the other scolopendrid centipedes, but they are still regarded as fast and aggressive. The scolopendrids are distributed throught the world in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate climates. Scolopendra cingulata typically inhabits dark, damp environments such as areas beneath logs or leaf litter in the region surrounding the Mediterranean Sea (Lewis, 1981).

This specimen was collected from Puglia, Italy. It was made available to The University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility for scanning by Dr. Timothy Rowe of the Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin. Funding for scanning was provided by a National Science Foundation Digital Libraries Initiative grant to Dr. Rowe.

This specimen was scanned by Matthew Colbert on 22 January 2004 along the coronal axis for a total of 300 1024x1024 pixel slices. Each slice is 0.0276 mm thick, with an interslice spacing of 0.0276 mm and a field of reconstruction of 12.0 mm.

Lewis, J. G. E. 1981. The biology of centipedes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 476 pp.

Caresheet for Scolopendra cingulata.

Information about giant centipedes at Terre et Mar.

Morphology of centipedes at Studies in Arthropod Morphology and Evolution

None available.