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| Megarian (Mediterranean) Banded Centipede - Scolopendra cingulata | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 17 2014, 02:19 PM (5,371 Views) | |
| Taipan | Apr 17 2014, 02:19 PM Post #1 |
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Megarian (Mediterranean) Banded Centipede - Scolopendra cingulata![]() Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Chilopoda Order: Scolopendromorpha Family: Scolopendridae Genus: Scolopendra Species: Scolopendra cingulata Scolopendra cingulata, also known as Megarian banded centipede, and the Mediterranean banded centipede is a species of centipede, and "the most common scolopendromorph species in the Mediterranean area". Description The species has alternating bands of black and yellow-gold. At approximately 10-15 cm, Scolopendra cingulata is one of the smallest species in the family Scolopendridae. Its venom is also not as toxic as that of other scolopendrid centipedes. ![]() Distribution Widely distributed, this species can be found throughout southern Europe and around the Mediterranean Sea, in such countries as Macedonia, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece, as well as parts of North Africa. Habitat Scolopendra cingulata is a burrowing animal, preferring dark, damp environments such as beneath logs and in leaf litter. Behaviour This species is fast and aggressive. Diet Scolopendra cingulata is an opportunistic carnivore. It will attack and consume almost any animal that is not larger than itself. These include insects and small lizards. ![]() |
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| Taipan | Apr 17 2014, 03:35 PM Post #2 |
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Centipede Bursts from Snake's Stomach By Megan Gannon, News Editor | April 16, 2014 03:12pm ET ![]() This unlucky viper messed with the wrong centipede. Scientists think it's possible the centipede tried gnawing its way out of the snake after it was swallowed. A group of researchers stumbled upon a grisly scene during a field study in Macedonia last year: a dead nose-horned viper with a centipede's head sticking out of its ruptured abdomen. After a post-mortem, the scientists think it's possible that the centipede quite literally eviscerated the snake from the inside out. The remnants of the death match were discovered on May 14, 2013, on Golem Grad, an island in Lake Prespa, and described last month in a brief report published in the journal Ecologica Montenegrina. The unfortunate nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) was a young female that stretched about 2 inches longer than the centipede (7.9 vs. 6 inches, or 20.3 vs. 15.4 centimeters). But the centipede (Scolopendra cingulate) was actually heavier than the snake, tipping the scales at 114 percent of the snake's body weight (4.8 vs. 4.2 grams, or 0.17 vs. 0.14 ounces). Nose-horned vipers regularly take on small mammals, lizards and birds, and they've been known to eat centipedes successfully, too. But in this particular case, the snake "gravely underestimated" the size and strength of its prey, the scientist wrote. A dissection revealed that the snake's visceral organs were missing, or in other words, "the entire volume of its body was occupied by the centipede," the scientists wrote. For this reason, the researchers think it's possible the snake's dinner tried to claw its way out, destroying the viper's internal organs along the way, before eventually dying. "In general, this invertebrate is extremely tough: It is very hard to kill a full-grown Scolopendra (personal observation)," the authors of the study wrote of the centipede. "Therefore, we cannot dismiss the possibility that the snake had swallowed the centipede alive, and that, paradoxically, the prey has eaten its way through the snake, almost reaching its freedom. http://www.livescience.com/44878-centipede-bursts-from-snakes-stomach.html "On May 14th 2013, on the island of Golem Grad (Prespa Lake, FYR of Macedonia: 40′52″ N, 20′59″ E) a juvenile female nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) was found dead, with head of a Scolopendra cingulata (according to Lewis, 2010) protruding through the body wall of its lower abdomen, app. 3.5 cm above the cloaca (Fig. 1a & 1b). The viper’s total length was 20.3 cm (snout-to-vent length 18.3 cm; width: with prey 10.4 mm, without prey 9 mm), while that of the centipede was 15.4 cm (body width 10.1 mm) (Fig. 1c). Unexpectedly, the mass of the prey was greater than that of the predator: the viper weighed 4.2 g and the centipede 4.8 g. In short, the prey constituted 84% of the predator’s trunk length, 112% of its body width, and 114% of the snake’s body weight. A subsequent dissection revealed the absence of the snake’s visceral organs (i.e. we found that only the snake’s body wall remained – the entire volume of its body was occupied by the centipede), which led us to suppose that the prey caused chemical or mechanical damage to the predator’s digestive organs. Nose-horned vipers usually feed on small mammals, lizards, other snakes, amphibians and birds (e.g. Luiselli 1996). An ontogenetic shift in diet composition has been described in this species – where adults feed predominantly on mammals, amphibians and occasionally on birds, while the primary food resource of juveniles are lizards and Scolopendra sp. (Beschkov 1977, Luiselli 1996, Бешков and Нанев 2002). On Golem Grad Island, adult vipers feed on lizards, dice snakes, and small rabbits, while juveniles consume lizards and S. cingulata (unpublished data). Numerous snakes and other animal species often feed on potentially dangerous prey (e.g. Willson and Hopkins 2011, Šukalo et al. 2013), and there are reports of snakes being killed (e.g. suffocated) by oversized prey (e.g. Cavalcanti et al. 2012, Oliveira Nogueira et al. 2013). However, some predatory animals (including certain snake species) have proven to be capable of learning to avoid unsuitable/deadly prey (e.g. Drummond and Garcia 1995, Greenlees et al. 2010). Juvenile vipers from Golem Grad have been observed to consume Scolopendra sp., but in this case we assume the young snake gravely underestimated the size and strength of the centipede, which itself is known as a ferocious predator (e.g. Dugon and Arthur 2012). In general, this invertebrate is extremely tough: it is very hard to kill a full-grown Scolopendra (personal observation). Therefore, we cannot dismiss the possibility that the snake had swallowed the centipede alive, and that, paradoxically, the prey has eaten its way through the snake, almost reaching its freedom." http://ecol-mne.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Arsovski-et-al.pdf |
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