Toxicity of venom from the mamushi, Gloydius blomhoffii, (Squamata, Crotalinae) to centipedes

Abstract

Vipers include approximately 300 species and usually feed on vertebrates, but over 30 species of them occasionally eat centipedes. Centipedes have been also known to occur in stomach contents of a Japanese pit viper, mamushi, Gloydius blomhoffii. Toxicity of the venom of mamushi to small mammals has been well studied, but there is no information concerning its toxicity to arthropods. Here, we studied the toxicity of the raw venom to the red-headed centipede, Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans, by comparing with the toxicity to two other common prey animals, a house mouse, Mus musclus, and a pond frog, Pelophylax nigromaculatus. The lethal doses for mice weighing around 21.5 g and frogs weighing around 3.78 g were less than 5 μl (equivalent to ca. 0.23 and 1.32 μl/g, respectively), which presumably corresponds to an approximate dose of mamushi's one envenomation. On the other hand, centipedes weighing around 1.86 g needed 10–36 μl of venom to die (16.0 μl/g on average). This result suggests that the centipedes are much more resistant to the venom than other prey animals, and it is difficult for mamushi to kill or incapacitate centipedes by the venom of a single envenomation.