There has been considerable confusion over the nature of the glandular structures of the anterior region of centipedes: Duboscq (1898) pointed out that no two description of the anterior glands of Scolopendra were in accord and from one to three pairs of salivary or venomous glands had been figured or described for the genus. The most detailed accounts of centipede head glands are those of Herbst (1891) and Fahlander (1938). Both single and multicellular glands occur, some of the latter forming a metamerically arranged series.

Scutigeromorpha

The Scutigeromorpha have the largest number of head glands. Fahlander (1938) investigated Scutigera coleoptrata, Thereuopoda clunifera and Thereuonema tuberculata, describing from these species seven pairs of multicellular anterior glands. He distinguished two pairs of buccal glands filling the greater part of the head antero-dorsal to the mouth, the medial pair opening into the anterior region of the pharynx, the lateral pair by short ducts into the oral cavity (Fig. 147a). The mandibular or hypopharyngeal glands lie largely in the hypopharynx, their ducts opening on the hind wall of the buccal cavity. In contrast to other head glands, the lobes of these glands are long and narrow and radiate in all directions.

The first maxillary glands open immediately anterior to the basal part of the first maxillae. The secretory part of the glands lies ventral to the nerve cord and stretches from the region of the first maxillae to the second leg-bearing segment (Fig. 147a).