Abstract
ABSTRACT Studies related to centipede feeding and predatory behavior are rare in the literature, and are limited to observations made during fieldwork. Furthermore, they lack descriptions of prey capture. We conducted a laboratory experiment using South American specimens of Scolopendra viridicornis Newport, 1844 (n = 5), Otostigmus tibialis Brolemann, 1902 (n = 5), and Cryptops iheringi Brolemann, 1902 (n = 5), as well as 13 different kinds of prey, to map and describe their predatory behavior. The analysis of video images (65 hours of recordings) resulted in 15 behavioral categories that describe foraging, prey capture, feeding, and cleaning habits. Almost all observations (95%) concluded with the centipede killing the prey. Although we witnessed that a stimulus triggered the movement of the centipede toward the prey in all observation events (suggesting a sit-and-wait strategy), our experiments also showed that these arthropods actively forage to seek food. Field observations during the experiment allowed us to document that scolopendromorphs feed on plants when animal prey items are not available. Moreover, we observed that the size and aggressiveness of the prey determined the centipede capture process. Our results revealed that two behavioral categories were performed only by S. viridicornis , and thus might be genus or species-specific. These are: raising the first third of the body while the rest of the body remains adjacent to the substrate; and restraining the prey along the ventral region of the first third of the body with the aid of locomotory legs. We also observed some peculiar behaviors performed only by O. tibialis . Our results confirm that S. viridicornis , O. tibialis and C. iheringi hold prey between their ultimate pair of legs.
Highlights
Centipedes are terrestrial arthropods with the body divid ed into a head, and a long segmented trunk bearing one pair of legs per segment
Legs of other segments are used as anchorage in the substrate
Onslaught (I) – displacement of the centipede toward the prey faster than the speed used in locomotion
Summary
Centipedes are terrestrial arthropods with the body divid ed into a head, and a long segmented trunk bearing one pair of legs per segment. At the level of the ventral region of the head, there is a pair of forcipules with poison glands. These are modi fied appendages of the first trunk segment, used to capture or kill prey. More than 3300 species of centipedes, divided into five extant orders, are known from all continents, except Antarctica (Bonato et al 2016). They have nocturnal habitats and can be found under decaying trunks, on the litter, in subterranean galleries, and inside termite mounds. The available reports, which do not describe prey capture but point to an active foraging behavior, present records of centipedes preying on birds in their nests
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