The embryonic development of centipedes will not be described here: it has been reviewed by Johannsen & Butt (1941). The most important work is that of Heymons (1901) on the embryology of Scolopendra spp. Verhoeff (1902–25) quoted at length from Heymons and added further data. Dohle (1970) and Knoll (1974) described the embryological development of Scutigera coleoptrata.

The Chilopoda exhibit two distinct patterns of post-embryonic development. In the epimorphic orders Geophilomorpha and Scolopendromorpha, the young hatch with a full, or almost full, complement of legs and the eggs and early post-embryonic stadia are brooded by the female. In the anamorphic orders Lithobiomorpha and Scutigeromorpha, the eggs are laid singly and are not brooded by the female. The young hatch with less than the adult number of legs and the number gradually increases during the early moults. Data for the Craterostigmus are currently very fragmentary.

Geophilomorpha

Larval stadia and brooding

Latzel (1880) gave brief notes on the larval stages of a large number of geophilomorphs. More detailed accounts have been given for Geophilus proximus and Pachymerium ferrugineum by Sograff (1883), for Dicellophilus carniolensis (C. L. Koch) together with notes on some other species by Verhoff (1902–25), for the American species Geophilus rubens by Johnson (1952), for Strigamia maritima by Lewis (1960) and for Necrophloeophagus longicornis and Clinopodes linearis by Weil (1958).

The process of hatching in geophilomorphs is a gradual process, the egg splitting into two halves to reveal the ‘last embryonic phase’.