Phylum:
Arthropoda Subphylum:
Myriapoda Class:
Chilopoda Centipedes are
arthropods belonging to the class
Chilopoda of the subphylum
Myriapoda. They are elongated
metameric creatures with one pair of legs per body segment, where legs ranging from 30 to 354. They always have an odd number of pairs of legs. A pair of venom claws or forcipules formed from a modified first
appendage, which indicated that they are predominantly
carnivorous. About 8,000 species of centipedes are thought to exist, of which 3,000 have been
described. The following list provide the centipedes currently identified in Sri Lanka. The first known study on centipedes are came from Newport on 1845. Then many more overseas biologists and naturalists did many studies on centipedes. However, much recent work and the first work by a local biologist was done by Duminda Dissanayake of
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. According to his checklist, there are 19 species from 4 orders and 6 families are known from Sri Lanka. Endemic species are denoted as
E. ===Order:
Geophilomorpha - Soil centipedes=== ====Family:
Mecistocephalidae==== •
Mecistocephalus heteropus •
Mecistocephalus subinsularis ====Family:
Oryidae==== •
Orphnaeus brevilabiatus ===Order:
Lithobiomorpha - Stone centipedes=== ====Family:
Lithobiidae==== •
Australobius palnis •
Australobius sculpturatus ===Order:
Scolopendromorpha - Bark centipedes=== ====Family:
Scolopendridae==== •
Ethmostigmus rubripes •
Otostigmus ceylonicus •
Otostigmus scaber •
Scolopendra crassa •
Scolopendra hardwickei •
Scolopendra morsitans •
Scolopendra subspinipes •
Cormocephalus inermipes •
Cormocephalus westwoodi •
Rhysida immarginata •
Rhysida longipes ===Order:
Scutigeromorpha - Common house centipedes=== ====Family:
Scutigeridae==== •
Thereuopodina tenuicornis ====Family:
Scutigerinidae==== •
Scutigerina weberi ==Millipede==