I'm A Nancy When It Comes To Bugs

[thaiwalker]

Does anyone know of these long red worms/centipedes? They have a hard red shell on top and love to crawl near my nose when I sleep in upcountry . Are they dangerous if they bite?

Thanks all!

[PhilHarries]

Centipedes (from Latin prefix centi-, "hundred", and Greek ποδός podos, "foot") are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda and the Subphylum Myriapoda. They are elongated metameric animals with one pair of legs per body segment. A key trait uniting this group is a pair of poison claws or forcipules formed from a modified first appendage. This also means that centipedes are an exclusively predatory taxon, which is uncommon.

Centipedes normally have a drab coloration combining shades of brown and red. Cavernicolous and subterranean species may lack pigmentation and many tropical Scolopendromorphs have bright aposematic colors. Size can range from a few millimeters in the smaller Lithobiomorphs and Geophilomorphs to about a foot in the largest Scolopendromorphs.

Centipede.bmp

Millipedes (Class Diplopoda, previously also known as Chilognatha) are arthropods that have two pairs of legs per segment (except for the first segment behind the head which does not have any appendages at all, and the next few which only have one pair of legs). Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one. Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical bodies, although some are flattened dorso-ventrally, while pill millipedes are shorter and can roll into a ball, like a pillbug. Millipedes are detritivores and slow moving. Most millipedes eat decaying leaves and other dead plant matter, moisturising the food with secretions and then scraping it in with the jaws. However they can also be a minor garden pest, especially in greenhouses where they can cause severe damage to emergent seedlings. Signs of millipede damage include the stripping of the outer layers of a young plant stem and irregular damage to leaves and plant apices.

Millipede.bmp

Centipedes can have a real nasty bite and are best avoided.

Millipedes are harmless.

btw if you can catch one of the large red Thai centipedes drown it in a bottle of Lao Khaw. The resulting brew is said to give you power.

<edit to correct typos. btw don't know what happened to the pics, downloaded them from the web then attached them......oh well maybe somebody could oblige>

Edited July 23, 2008 by PhilHarries

[PhilHarries]

btw2 not 100% correct on the harmless bit for millipedes so I'd better put it right before I'm hung, drawn and quartered.

Due to their lack of speed and their inability to bite or sting, millipedes' primary defense mechanism is to curl into a tight coil — protecting their delicate legs inside an armoured body exterior. Many species also emit poisonous liquid secretions or hydrogen cyanide gas through microscopic pores along the sides of their bodies as a secondary defense [6][7][8]. Some of these substances are caustic and can burn the exoskeleton of ants and other insect predators, and the skin and eyes of larger predators. Lemurs have been observed intentionally irritating millipedes in order to rub the chemicals on themselves to repel insect pests, and possibly to produce a psychoactive effect.[citation needed]

As far as humans are concerned, this chemical brew is fairly harmless, usually causing only minor effects on the skin, the main effect being discoloration, but other effects may also include pain, itching, local erythema, edema, blisters, eczema, and occasionally cracked skin [7][9][10][11]. Eye exposures to these secretions causes general eye irritation and potentially more severe effects such as conjunctivitis and keratitis [12]. First aid consists of flushing the area thoroughly with water; further treatment is aimed at relieving the local effects.

Also better add source : Wikipedia

[thaiwalker]

wow! killer reply phil... who says the internet is just for porn?

thanks!