''Scolopendra cataracta'' is a species of

centipede Centipedes (from Neo-Latin , "hundred", and Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', "lip", and Neo-Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, ...

in the family Scolopendridae. It is the first known amphibious centipede and grows to up to in length.

Description

''Scolopendra cataracta'' is a giant centipede, growing to around in length; it has long legs and a greenish-black colour. When exposed, it escapes into water. It both runs along stream beds and swims with eel-like horizontal undulations of its body. Out of water, water rolls off the centipede's body leaving it dry as the surface is

hydrophobic In chemistry, hydrophobicity is the chemical property of a molecule (called a hydrophobe) that is seemingly repelled from a mass of water. In contrast, hydrophiles are attracted to water. Hydrophobic molecules tend to be nonpolar and, thu ...

. The species was discovered, and the first specimen collected, in 2000 near

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

's Khao Sok National Park. Two more specimens were collected near waterfalls in Laos. DNA analysis confirmed they belonged to ''S. cataracta''; the new species was named for the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

. A further specimen was found in the Natural History Museum's collection, in the shape of a misidentified 1928 centipede from Vietnam. The

ecological niche In ecology, a niche is the match of a species to a specific environmental condition. Three variants of ecological niche are described by It describes how an organism or population responds to the distribution of Resource (biology), resources an ...

is conjectured to be based on going "into the water at night to hunt aquatic or amphibious invertebrates." The

species description A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it diff ...

was published in ''

ZooKeys ''ZooKeys'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering zoological taxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeography. It was established in 2008 and the founding editor-in-chief was Terry Erwin (Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian ...

'' in 2016. The species is apparently endemic to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, with specimens from

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, Thailand, and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Phylogeny and Classification

The Mainland Asian ''Scolopendra'' species are classified into three different main groups. These groups are the ''pinguis–calcarata'' group, the ''subspinipes'' group, and the ''morsitans'' group. The ''Scolopendra cataracta'' is classified into the ''subspinipes'' group.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scolopendra Cataracta cataracta Centipedes of Laos Centipedes of Thailand Animals described in 2016 Taxa named by Gregory Edgecombe