You thought house centipedes were already creepy-crawly enough without needing to know the lifelike details of how they catch and kill their quarry . But in sheath you were enquire , they sometimes use their leg like lassos to rope in and restrain their victims , London - based paleontologist Greg Edgecombe tellsDeep attend , a web series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios . That ’s not the only way they utilise their leg , either . “ Basically arthropod are Swiss United States Army knife , ” Edgecombe says . “ They differentiate the legs for different functions . ”
In improver to using their conciliatory legs to put their prey in a triangle choke like an agile MMA attack aircraft , they may even use their prospicient hind legs in mating ritual . Their back legs contain as many receptive hair as their antennae , and the two component part are often confused because they are exchangeable in both distance and coming into court . research worker say centipedes do a kind of ritual courtship dance in which the manlike and female arthropods advance and lower their back legs and antenna . There ’s also some “ reciprocal tapping and probing ” involved .
The insects are cannibalistic , venomous , and exceptionally fast runner — but do n’t vex , they seldom bite humanity . Their prospicient Fang , be intimate as forciples , are really modified legs . The forciples are not only used to hold their defenseless quarry in place and inject venom , but also to clean house and lubricate the sensational hair along their legs .
By the way , despite popular belief , centipedes commonly do n’t have 100 legs . Most species have few than 60 , and baby centipedes only have eight . As they raise , they build up more and more legs .
If you are n’t thoroughly gross out by now , check outDeep Look ’s creepy , crawly video below , featuring none other than the humble house centipede .
[ h / tThe Kids Should See This ]
