Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 External morphology and functional anatomy
- 3 The integument, moulting and regeneration
- 4 The musculature and endoskeleton
- 5 The nervous system and sense organs
- 6 Sensory responses and related behaviour
- 7 Endocrinology
- 8 The alimentary canal
- 9 The poison glands
- 10 Feeding and digestion
- 11 The respiratory system
- 12 The circulatory system
- 13 Pigments
- 14 Connective tissue and fat body
- 15 Head glands
- 16 The Malpighian tubules and nephridia
- 17 The reproductive system and reproduction
- 18 Post-embryonic development and life history
- 19 Epidermal glands and their function, defence and predators
- 20 Parasites
- 21 Physiology and ecology
- 22 Taxonomy
- 23 Relationships of the chilopod orders
- 24 The classification of the Chilopoda
- Bibliography
- Index
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 External morphology and functional anatomy
- 3 The integument, moulting and regeneration
- 4 The musculature and endoskeleton
- 5 The nervous system and sense organs
- 6 Sensory responses and related behaviour
- 7 Endocrinology
- 8 The alimentary canal
- 9 The poison glands
- 10 Feeding and digestion
- 11 The respiratory system
- 12 The circulatory system
- 13 Pigments
- 14 Connective tissue and fat body
- 15 Head glands
- 16 The Malpighian tubules and nephridia
- 17 The reproductive system and reproduction
- 18 Post-embryonic development and life history
- 19 Epidermal glands and their function, defence and predators
- 20 Parasites
- 21 Physiology and ecology
- 22 Taxonomy
- 23 Relationships of the chilopod orders
- 24 The classification of the Chilopoda
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Centipedes (members of the arthropodan class Chilopoda) are common and relatively familiar animals which are found in soil and litter or under stones or bark. They are soft-bodied and dorsoventrally flattened having from 15 to 181 pairs of legs, one pair to each trunk segment. Species from temperate regions are usually of moderate size, varying from 1 to 10 cm in length and of drab brownish or yellowish coloration. Many tropical species of the order Scolopendromorpha are large, one reaches a length of 26 cm, and are brightly coloured: red, black and orange, green or violet.
Like other arthropods, the centipedes are bilaterally symmetrical, metamerically segmented animals with a double ventral nerve cord, typically with a ganglion in each segment and concentrations of nervous tissue above and below the gut at the anterior end of the body. A circulatory system is present carrying blood forwards in a dorsal vessel and backwards in a ventral vessel. The body is covered by a non-living layer, the cuticle, which is secreted by the epidermis. The cuticle is in the form of relatively rigid sclerites separated by flexible arthrodial membranes; it is shed periodically to allow growth, a phenomenon known as moulting or ecdysis. The anterior part of the body is differentiated to form a head which bears a pair of antennae, a pair of jaws (mandibles) and two pairs of jointed legs modified to form mouthparts (the first and second maxillae).
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Biology of Centipedes , pp. 1 - 6Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1981