Scolopendra cataracta is a species of centipede in the family Scolopendridae.[1][2] It is the first known amphibious centipede, growing to up to 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in length.[2][3]
Description
Scolopendra cataracta is a giant centipede, growing to around 200 mm (7.9 in) in length; it has long legs and a greenish-black colour.[3] 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.[2] The species was discovered, and the first specimen collected, in 2000 near Thailand's Khao Sok National Park.[4][5] 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 for waterfall.[2] A further specimen was found in the Natural History Museum's collection, in the shape of a misidentified 1928 centipede from Vietnam.[2] The ecological niche is conjectured to be based on going "into the water at night to hunt aquatic or amphibious invertebrates."[3] The species description was published in ZooKeys in 2016.[6]
