Bug Wiki
Bug Wiki / All bugs / Centipedes and millipedes
Sticker of House centipede
Bug card No. 0750 of 1,500

House centipede

Scutigera coleoptrata
Name means: “shield bearer, after the shield-like plates on its back”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsCentipedes and millipedesHouses and farmsLots of legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The house centipede is a yellowish-grey creature with three dark stripes on its back and up to 30 very long, thin legs. It zooms across floors, walls and even ceilings. It is a speedy little hunter that catches bugs in our houses.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. Insects have six legs, and this cousin has many, many more.
Lives in
First from around the Mediterranean Sea, now in houses in many parts of the world
Length
2.5 to 3.5 cm (0.98 to 1.4 in)
Top speed
about 1.5 km/h (0.93 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless

Watch out! Read all about it on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
It hunts spiders, cockroaches, silverfish, ants, termites and bed bugs. It catches them by jumping on them or wrapping its legs around them like a lasso.
For real!Photo of House centipede
Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

House centipede about 3.5 cm long (1.4 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 6 grains of rice in a rowit has about 30 legscould run across a dinner table in 2.4 seconds

How big is House centipede compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It can run up to 40 centimetres in one second.

2

Its long back legs look like feelers, so it is hard to tell which end is the head.

3

A baby has only 8 legs when it hatches and gets more each time it sheds its skin, until it has 30.

4

If an enemy grabs one of its legs, it can let that leg go and run away.

5

Unlike most centipedes, it has good eyes, but it hunts mostly with its feelers.

you asked

Most asked questions about House centipede

?How many legs does a house centipede have?

A grown-up has 15 pairs of legs, so 30 legs in all.

?What does a house centipede eat?

Other little house creatures like spiders, cockroaches, silverfish, ants and termites.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Scutigera coleoptrata
Named by
Linnaeus, 1758
Group
Centipedes and millipedes
Family
Scutigeridae
Classification
Chilopoda > Scutigeromorpha > Scutigeridae
Lives on
Europe, Africa, Asia, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Scutigera coleoptrata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

More from the same group: Centipedes and millipedes

Giant African millipedeCentipedes and millipedesAmazonian giant centipedeCentipedes and millipedesVietnamese centipedeCentipedes and millipedesGiant desert centipedeCentipedes and millipedesGreenhouse millipedeCentipedes and millipedesYellow-spotted millipedeCentipedes and millipedes

Also at home here: Houses and farms

Thief antAntsBrown house mothMothsAsian malaria mosquitoFlies and mosquitoesFour-lined silverfishOther insectsOriental latrine flyFlies and mosquitoesCommon booklouseOther insects