House Centipedes Use Their Legs Like Lassos to Catch Prey

You thought house centipedes were already creepy enough without needing to know the graphic details of how they catch and kill their prey. But in case you were wondering, they sometimes use their legs like lassos to rope in and restrain their victims, London-based paleontologist Greg Edgecombe tells Deep Look, a web series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. That's not the only way they use their legs, either. “Basically arthropods are Swiss army knives,” Edgecombe says. “They differentiate the legs for different functions.”

In addition to using their flexible legs to put their prey in a triangle choke like an agile MMA fighter, they may even use their long hind legs in mating rituals. Their back legs contain as many sensory hairs as their antennae, and the two parts are often confused because they are similar in both length and appearance. Researchers say centipedes do a kind of ritual courtship dance in which the male and female arthropods raise and lower their back legs and antennae. There’s also some “mutual tapping and probing” involved.

The insects are cannibalistic, venomous, and exceptionally fast runners—but don’t worry, they rarely bite humans. Their long fangs, known as forciples, are actually modified legs. The forciples are not only used to hold their defenseless prey in place and inject venom, but also to clean and lubricate the sensory hairs along their legs.

By the way, despite popular belief, centipedes usually don’t have 100 legs. Most species have fewer than 60, and baby centipedes only have eight. As they grow, they develop more and more legs.

If you aren’t thoroughly grossed out by now, check out Deep Look’s creepy, crawly video below, featuring none other than the humble house centipede.

[h/t The Kids Should See This]